The Last Cerebrate
by starspawn07
Summary: After the final battle in SC:2 WoL, the last living pure-blooded Zerg awakes from stasis.
1. The Last Cerebrate

That's it, I've decided that from now on I'm just going to write "hard sci-fi" shorts.

Well, this one _may_ become a multi-chapter fic, but I'm not gonna promise updates like I used to :/

* * *

**The Last Cerebrate**

**

* * *

**

Exactly how long has it been ? I can't tell. It's been like a dream to me, all these millennia.

Of the memories that feel real to me, most are from the time on the Homeworld, before I, like my younger comrades, submitted to the Overmind's will, in exchange for the promise of eternal life ( and adventure, in my case ). What followed was a long stream of chaos. Our assault on the Ancient Ones, transiting from one world to another, finding others interesting creatures, and bringing them into the fold. And slaughtering those who threatened our survival.

I have struggled to exert my consciousness. The times that I succeeded, I beheld such horrors that I wished I was drugged again.

They called me the Old One, the one who so "stubbornly" clings to his original form, the one who has yet to embrace the Overmind's grand vision for our species. By the boiling geyser vents of Zeurus, could they not see what they themselves had become ? Bloated monstrosities who could not even walk by themselves ! What kind of grand vision is that ?

And then the Overmind was gone. While I lamented the passing of the great entity that had been watching over us, I began preparing for my own future.

* * *

_( Somewhere on the surface of Char, aftermath of the activation of the Xel'Naga artefact ( in Wings of Liberty ) … )_

"Oh boy, I can't believe we actually won !" Private Bryan relaxed and let himself fall to the gravel-covered floor on his back, with a relieved clang.

"Well I can't believe you're still alive !" His section mate nudged Bryan's plate-armoured midsection with his metal boots, then pressed a button at the base of his helmet and shouted, "Hey ! I just found I big lump of trash here ! We need the truck over at this location !"

"Common Leo buddy, let's have a good look at the sky before we leave." As if to illustrate the point, the surface of his helmet visor reflected the expanse of dark clouds above. The latter was rolling over each other like molten rock, and no light shown through save for a faint diffuse glow here and there. The rest of the cloud surface was only dimly illuminated by light from the landscape below.

"No thanks, I don't wanna see this god-forsaken place for one more minute." Leo bent and reached for Bryan's hand. " And you better stay on your toes too. Stetman says the 'terrain's becomin unstable'."

"Yeah, no thanks to the Commander." Bryan took Leo's outstretched hand and allowed his friend to pull him back up, then followed Leo as the latter turned and walked down the rocky ridge, down a shallow valley path which wound through an expansive but sparse formation of volcanic rock, towards a sprawling cluster of mountains in the near distance, their dark silhouettes criss-crossed by fine gold veins – the occasional lava streams faintly illuminating the hellish landscape of Char, stronghold world of the ( now finally defeated ) Zerg Swarm.

At the mountains' feet, dwarfed by the now silent Primary Hive Clusters, was what remained of the combined Raiders-Dominion base.

Bryan could see signs of frantic activity in said military installation. Aerial transports landing and lifting off by the flocks, and structures folding and shifting one by one. "What's the hurry man ? I mean the Zerg are practically dead right ? There won't be any monsters poppin out of the ground again right ?"

Leo did not reply. He just stopped walking and stared down.

"What's wrong ?" Bryan stopped walking as well and turned to his friend.

"I kicked into something." Leo bent down to pick up the "something". "Didn't sound like a rock."

"Well we better have a good look then." Bryan switched on the torches built into the shoulder plates of his armour, giving them the appearance of cars' headlights. "Screw light discipline right."

At once the valley seemed flooded with light, and it took a second for their eyes to adjust to the sudden glare.

"What the F-"

"Are those …"

For tens of metres on out, the area on which they were standing was covered in half-buried-

"Trilobites ?"

"Huh ? Oh, those dead critters you see in the museums ? Ha, for a while I thought we were screwed." Bryan turned slowly around to get a good view of their incredible surroundings. "but man this is creepy ! They look so big, and … and"

"Well preserved." Leo finished for him and examined the object in his hand. The tip of a "fossilised" arthropod feeler. One metre long, five centimetres thick, with a faint dark emerald-brown sheen across its surface. "It's as if they just died yesterday. Could be Zerg."

"Not like any Zerg I've seen before." Bryan kicked off chunks of gravel from the ground where he was standing, to reveal the smooth top carapace of a smaller one of the "fossilised" creatures. It had the same emerald-brown sheen as the other parts sticking out through the ground and wall all around them. "Say, do you think we can keep some as souvenirs ?"

Leo frowned, then shook his head. "Better leave them where they are."

"What ? they're all dead !"

And then the earth erupted behind them.

* * *

I trembled, both with excitement, and with the effort of digging through the rocks above me.

My calculations were correct ! The Warp Cocoon I had erected around me had kept me alive as the tidal wave of destructive psychic energy from the Artefact swept across the planetary surface above me, draining the life out of every Zerg caught in its wake, including that of the modified Drones I had used to generate the Cocoon. Said tidal wave also ruptured the Cocoon itself, allowing me to awaken from the self-inflicted stasis.

As I drove upwards through layer upon layer of petrified drones, I became aware of faint psychic signals coming from the surface. Most of it conveyed relief, satisfaction, and weariness. Those must be the Terrans. Clearly, they had prevailed in the final battle, and if I assumed correctly, they were now preparing to leave Char. I must get to them before they leave, or else I would be stuck on this world for a very long time. I doubted they would just let me ride in one of their transports, but … there must be a way. I had not gained my freedom just to confine myself on this blasted ash-world.

Now I sensed two small psychic presences above me. Excellent !

With one final push, I broke through the top most layer and emerged into the open. At once, fresh air washed over my spiracles, and I inhaled it greedily. Exhilarating ! I stretched and flexed my myriad limbs. Then I bent over the edge of the hole and got ready to haul my whole body out of the tunnel.

And then I heard their loud curses.

"SHIT !"

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT !"

I turned to look at the source of the voice, and was temporarily blinded by a strong white light.

"OH MY GAWD !"

"… !"

I could feel the sense of shock emanating from the two Terran … what did they call them ? … oh yes, … Marines. This shock gradually turned into fear and panic. They levelled their metal projectile-firing weapons at me, while slowly stepping backwards away from me. Timid creatures, these Terrans. Timid, but still very dangerous, as our wars with them had proved.

I reached out with my mind until it touched theirs, and attempted communication,

_Have no fear …_

Their reactions were so interesting to watch.

"Shit, did you hear that ?"

"What, you heard that too ?"

"No, actually I didn't."

"Haa … haa …"

_I mean you no harm … please sheath your weapons …_

"Like hell I would !"

One of the marines pressed a hand to the base of his thick metallic neck and whispered something into it. He was alerting his brood-mates to my existence. I decided to let him. A new plan was forming in my mind.

Leaning forward, I crawled out of the tunnel. I could feel both the panic and wonder in the two Terrans intensify as they beheld my entire physical form.

"Mother-effing giant maggot !"

"You mean centipede."

"Smelly feet ?"

"Forget it, just go with maggot !"

I ruminated on their way of describing my appearance. Verily, the Terrans have made an art form out of hurling insults, for the image invoked by that first phrase reminded me of my degenerate comrades, except for that part about copulating with one's female progenitor. Ah, if only the Terrans could appreciate what a wonderful talent they have. They throw around those colourful sounds they call "words" without realising the latters' full potential for expression.

Of course, I do not look like the larva of a certain flying insect. I have legs and eyes, and my skin is certainly not that soft ! The second animal mentioned seemed to resemble me more, though such a tiny, frail, and unintelligent creature could never compare with one born of great Zeurus. The third phrase implied the excessive diffusion of odours from the tips of my limbs. Were their senses that acute ? I brushed my feelers over the tips of my foremost legs. Whatever chemical traces there were barely detectable to me.

However, I did not bother correcting them. After this day, they would not remember anything about this encounter anyway.

Rather, I extended my psionic presence further forward, and tried to force a psychic tendril into the deepest core of their minds, similar to the Link I used with my underlings ( who now all lay dead beneath my clawed feet. Being unable to feel the psychic presence of your entire brood is depressing, but I had seen this coming. Everything was done for a reason. I have little regrets. )

The haze of fear that hung over the marines' minds faded away, replaced by confusion as their sub-conscious reacted to my psychic intrusion.

Their bodies convulsed. Then they dropped their weapons and collapsed to the ground, where they continued with their unsightly spasms.

Was it not working ? Perhaps the Terrans are not as responsive to such things as I expected. Then how could the Overmind achieve those fantastic feats of psychic manipulation ? There must be a way. Perhaps I had been too forceful. Before this my mind had always been partially occupied with controlling my brood ( and absorbing the occasional mental prodding from the Overmind or the Queen of Blades ). Now that my entire brood had perished, and there was no longer any entity able to repress my consciousness, a considerable reserve of my psychic potential was freed up, so much so that the moment I tried to exert control over another lesser being again , I overloaded their minds. Ah, the wonderful surprises that come with achieving total freedom !

I tried again, withdrawing my psychic presence a bit and then gently poking their minds from different angles.

Finally, after several attempts ( and several instances where I accidently triggered adverse neural responses, with some interesting results ), even the confusion in their minds died down, replaced by a familiar kind of emptiness. With a simple psychic command, they both stood up, and took on the postures they had before , as if nothing had happened. Perfect !

If I could express emotions like Terrans do, then I would have been dancing and singing with joy, but my cumbersome body did not allow for such antics. I decided, once this was over, to seek out a functioning Evolution Chamber, and try out one of those mutations that we had been using on our underlings but never on ourselves. Or perhaps I could induce those changes on my own ? We natives of Zeurus do have a certain genetic versatility. That was how the Swarm was formed in the first place. As I thought of this, I also felt a desire to see the Homeworld. To do that, I needed a safe and reliable means of travel.

I looked out into the distance, at the make-shift Hive that the Terrans had constructed, and were now rushing to tear down.

After some consideration, I issued another psychic command to the two marines.

_Lead the way_.


	2. then and now 1

**Legend:**

_xx place, xx time_ : setting

'_hello'_ : telepathic

"Hello" : normal speech

*: to be explained ( i.e see Author's note )

...

and before I forget: I don't own anything. The Starcraft franchise is the property of Blizzard Entertainment.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

_FLASHBACK …_

We were so close ! So close ! All it took was to lure the Queen of Blades into the caverns, and then that would have been the end of her. The ambush that I had prepared would make sure of that.

Yet something had gone wrong. I noticed it the moment she approached one of the underlings I had positioned at the perimeter, and its psychic presence vanished. Very soon I was galloping* ( as fast as my terribly inefficient legs could allow ) with all my might, trying to flee from the psionic storms now raging throughout the tunnel systems, the very tunnel systems I had chosen to entrap my enemy, and now the potential place of my doom.

The storms subsided, and I slowed to a crawl as well. Eventually I stopped as I entered into one of the caverns. There was no more use in running. She was right in front of me.

In the total subterranean darkness, I could not see her, but my psionic sense gave me a detailed enough impression of the scene around me. She stood there, in her characteristically Terran display of haughtiness, her left wing-claw wrapped around the charred carcass of one of my heavily modified Hydralisks. In this manner she held it away from the ground, like a … mantid holding its prey. Quite an amazing feat, considering that the dead underling was several times her mass. How could a creature that small possess so much strength ? Did all Terrans have such potential, or had the Overmind truly imbued her with a power that even we Cerebrates did not understand ? Why bestow such a gift to a creature not born of Zeurus ? ( granted, she was half-Zerg now. )

"Well, this was interesting. How did you come up with such things ?" She was genuinely curious, but I could tell she was mostly just toying with me now. I knew she could sense my intense fear, and she enjoyed inflicting more of it on me. The moment she got bored of it, she would pounce and rip me to shreds. I must increase her interest. I must stay alive.

'_The Overmind placed a significant limit on how many underlings I could control. I've always had to improvise. Many of the elite strains in the Swarm were the indirect result of my tinkering.' _

"So you're some kind of scientist, huh." A tone of amusement in her voice.

That last name was unfamiliar to me. I searched through my memories for clues from my past interactions with Terrans. Ah yes, "scientists" are a breed of Terrans who investigate the way things work, and apply that knowledge. They are responsible for the Terrans' evolution. And most importantly, they are valuable to the Terran community. I decided to try my luck.

'_If you let me live, I will share my latest strains with you. The Lurkers will be yours, and much much more ! Surely you were impressed by this last … demonstration of their capabilities.'_

"Hmm …" She regarded the dead Lurker in her grip for a while.

A short silence ensued. The only sounds, barely audible, were the nervous clicking of my mandibles.

And then she spun round, and hurled the Lurker's corpse towards me.

Instinctively, I curled into a protective ball, with my rear end at the centre of the resulting spiral, and my back facing outwards. The dead lurker crashing into me did little physical harm, but the suddenness of the action shocked me motionless for a few seconds, as if my essence had been forced out of my body, like one of those times the Overmind tried to reincarnate me into another form. Only, this time, the Overmind was no longer around. If I was slain now, I would not be revived.

When I finally overcame my paralysis, and I regained my senses again, Kerrigan was standing atop the lurker's corpse, looking down at me with disgust. Had I assumed wrongly ? Were "scientists" not as valuable as I expected ?

"Pathetic. Without the Overmind you are nothing but overgrown worms." Vocally she was comparing us Cerebrates to lowly animals, as she had always done, but the psychic signal that accompanied the last word was even more painful to receive. _Parasites._

'_Without the Overmind, you'd be nothing but an overgrown rat.'_ I sent back. '_Pest.'_

In response, her psychic presence intensified to an overwhelming level. Her eyes flashed phosphor white, and then dimmed, taking on the orange glow of burning ash. The first and only points of light in this deep dark cavern.

I curled my feelers and folded in my limbs, preparing myself for the lethal bolt of psionic energy that would finally put an end to my existence.

It never came.

"Why did the Overmind need to limit your army ?" The twin crescents of orange narrowed.

It took me a second to realize that she was curious again. Such an unpredictable temper. Nevertheless, my hopes of surviving returned. Surviving was the most important. Other contemplation of human behaviour could wait.

'_I could not disobey Its will, but I tried to be … creative … whenever I had the opportunity. It was deemed too dangerous for me to lead a full-sized brood.'_ A pause, then I added, '_but the Old One was still precious to the Swarm, so my essence was not erased.'_ Of course, I did not completely believe in that, but anything that could convince her to spare my life was worth trying.

To my surprise, she looked up and let out a series of loud vocal sounds which involved such strong exhalations that her own upper body shook with it. The psychic signal she was emanating was one of joy and amusement. She was … laughing.

"We are sooo alike. It's as if the Overmind actually planned it this way. Yes, it's obvious now, we're fated !"

Again, it took a while for me to interprete that last word. And again, comprehension of it required a full understanding of the interaction between humans, which unfortunately, I did not have. Regardless, her cheerful mood was a good sign.

'_Yes, even in death the Overmind's designs continue to unfold.'_

"Hmm …" She placed her normal human hands on her hips and then looked up and sideways. It appeared to be a relaxed posture, but she emanated a sense of trouble. What was the full meaning of such a gesture ? Ah, yet another mysterious aspect of human behaviour. The subject of her worry, was, however, no mystery to me.

'_The new Overmind that Daggoth's group is creating, I wonder if that was part of Its designs…'_

Her reply affirmed my suspicion. "I don't care what the Overmind wanted. I will not let anything take over my mind again !"

In my own mind I went through several possible responses to this, selecting the one that would produce the most favourable results for me.

'_You seek a way to resist mental domination.'_

She did not reply vocally, but my psionic senses told me that her emotions were flowing precisely as I wanted them to.

I slowly uncurled myself back to my normal sprawling posture as I sent the crucial statement:

'_You need my powers.'_

_END FLASHBACK_

_

* * *

_

_- back to the present, on my way to the Terran base on Char …_

Kerrigan was alive !

As we approached the base I felt her psychic presence, shining like a star amongst the faint hazy aurora that made up the psychic presence of the other Terrans around her.

Yes, she was alive, and among fellow humans. The Terrans had decided not to kill her, despite her having slaughtered countless humans during her reign of terror as the supreme ruler of the Swarm.

As a member of a sentient species myself, I do understand the concept of compassion. Before the creation of the Swarm, it was as vital to our ancestors, as it is now to any Terran or Protoss. One could even argue that the Overmind was formed partly from ( an admittedly warped expression of ) the "compassion" that the inhabitants of Zeurus had for each other.

However, unlike us, the Terrans have preserved a much more primal, unordered form of compassion. Each individual human expresses this emotion at varying degrees, for widely differing rationales ( sometimes for no good reason at all ). It is both fickle, but true at the same time. A weird state of mind, one which the Zerg have mostly abandoned while acquiring the Purity of Essence. ( For us, everything has to do with survival and evolution. )

Was it this eldritch mental quality that caused the Terrans to spare Kerrigan's life ? Of course that cannot be the only reason. The Terrans likely needed something important from the former Queen of Blades, and could not afford to kill her yet, despite the potential threat she posed to their survival. Whatever their motives, I was relieved, for I now had a connection within their base, one which I could use to gain access to their transports, among other things.

We were several Hives' distance from the base now. I hid behind a massive natural stone pillar, away from the line of sight of the bases' guard towers, while scanning the entire field of structures with my psychic senses to get a general impression of the activity going on within it.

The humans were oblivious to the invisible psychic tendrils drifting over them, but when the latter brushed over Kerrigan's psychic presence, our minds touched, and a plan was formed in my mind.

* * *

"It's here…"

Jim Raynor, Commander of the Raiders, and the hero of humanity ( even though most of humanity did not recognize that ), was about to succumb to fatigue and collapse onto the bench, when he heard that familiar voice.

"It's here…"

He shook his head and rubbed his eyes, before forcing them open and staring at the source of the voice, the woman who now sat huddled beside him on the same bench, a blanket wrapped all around her body.

He would have found this occasion rather romantic, were it not for the fact that the need to keep her safe had nothing to do with his personal feelings for her, and that he did not trust the Dominion troops ( and even some of his own marines ) to keep their hands ( and guns ) off her, thus forcing him to stay with her throughout the cease-fire* process. Not that he minded. The interior of the truck provided some measure of privacy, and it would be some time before he was required elsewhere so perhaps he could -

"It wants to come in…"

"Say what ?" Raynor jerked his head back in surprise. He heard Kerrigan muttering something softly.

"Sarah, what's wrong ? tell me !"

Before Kerrigan could reply, Raynor heard a knock on the rear door of the truck.

"Come in !"

The door slid open, and a Raider marine peered inside, and gave a quick slanted salute. "Sir, there's something you should see."

"What is it ?" Raynor turned to look at the marine. The latter wore an excited expression. There was no panic, just disbelief and wonder. He had seen something incredible.

"Sir, it's … there's some kind of big animal outside the South entrance …"

"Is it Zerg ?"

"No idea, sir. Stetman's scanning its biosignature." And then the marine recalled the main point of his report. "It was following behind two of our people who were just returning to base and …" he fumbled for the right words. "I think it wants to come in too, sir."

Raynor sighed and looked back at Kerrigan. "Sarah, can you walk ?"

"Yes." She whispered, and slowly stood up.

"Alright." Raynor grabbed his rifle from under the bench. "Let's get this over with."

* * *

"General, I am confident that the containment facilities on the Hyperion are able to –"

"You'd seriously consider letting a live Zerg aboard your vessel ?"

"We don't _know_ what its connection to the Zerg is."

"You just said there's Zerg DNA in there."

"Yeah but … a) it's docile and b) it didn't get killed by the Artifact. Sir, I appreciate your concern for everyone's safety but a super rare specimen like this, if we kill it now –"

"We've already got the Queen of Blades."

"But she's … uh … you know …"

For some time now, I've listened to the quarrel going on between the human with a loose white body covering which covered his entire body except for the head ( which was engulfed by another structure which reminded me of the face of a Protoss * ) and feet, and another taller one with in pale brown metallic armour, the same exoskeleton sported by marines. Even as he engaged in his vocal battle with the white one, the brown marine had his weapon pointed in my direction, as did the marines beside him, standing in a semicircle around me. These latter warriors also had armour of different colours, some blue, some red. These indicated that there was more than one brood occupying this base.

Certainly the white one was from a different brood than the brown marine. From what I could understand of their argument, the white one was a "scientist" and he wanted to keep me alive, so that he could use me to further the evolution of his brood. In contrast, the brown marine wanted to destroy me immediately. Such violent mentality was not surprising given that he was from a warrior strain. What really amazed me was that a warrior was given enough authority to challenge a "scientist". Ah, I had almost forgotten the full implications of the fact that humans are a multi-individuated species.

I felt Kerrigan's psychic presence approaching, and saw the "scientist" and his warrior rival halt their argument to move aside and allow Kerrigan to step through the wall of marines, accompanied by another warrior in grey marine armour. This one had a slightly different weapon than normal marines, and he radiated a sense of confidence and experience. He was an Elite, like the brown one.

Had the Queen of Blades managed to take control of these two groups of Terrans ? Probably not, for I saw no sign of mental domination among them.

Kerrigan now appeared completely human, except for the nerve-cords sprouting from her head, and bending gently down and backwards. The transformation must have been the Artifact's doing. If my calculations are correct, then the Queen of Blades we knew was no more.

The Elite beside her stared at me for a moment, and then turned to the white one while pointing his weapon towards me. "Alright, what is that ?"

"Sir, my scans indicate Zerg, but it's unlike any Zerg we've encountered before." The white one held up a strange metal object in his hand. "For example …"

"Is it dangerous ?" The Elite interrupted.

"So far ? no."

"What happened to the two guys it was following ?"

"Well, they said they were tired, and went back to their bunks. Our friend there," the white one pointed at me," was about to follow, but stopped immediately when the guards pointed their guns at it. Sir, normal Zerg _don't_ act like that."

"Considering what we've been through these months, 'normal' means very little to me now. Sarah, have you se - … Sarah ? Sarah, come back here !"

Kerrigan was walking towards me now.

'_I remember you.'_

Presently, she placed a hand upon my head.

'_What do you want ?'_

In reply, I sent her the outline of my plan. '_Safe passage, to my Homeworld.' _

She understood, and sent me some instructions as well.

Behind her, the Elite was aiming his weapon at both of us. "Sarah ? What's going on ? You were talking to it right ?"

Laughing, Kerrigan turned to face the humans. "It's not what you think, really." She looked back at me and snapped a finger. "Stand"

I reared up to form an 'S' shape with my body, and emitted the best imitation of a purr as I could with my spiracles.

"Play dead."

I rolled over to my back and waved my limbs about.

After which we did a few more postures, some of which I did not quite grasp, but Kerrigan telepathically assured me I was 'doing fine'. Whether that was true or not, I definitely needed a new body.

A slack, quiet expression settled on the face of every Terran in the scene ( as far as I could see their faces ). Was that shock ? Confusion ? Wariness ? Relief ?

After a while, the white one did a gesture which I recognized as a "shrug". "Well that explains the docility."

The brown Elite marine shook his head and turned to leave. "You're gonna need a very very big kennel."

The grey Elite approached us and held Kerrigan's left wrist gently in one armoured hand. "Gods, Sarah, next time, tell me before you do something crazy again. You mean the Universe to me, you know, in more ways than one."

Kerrigan simply patted the back of said appendage with her own free hand and nodded, while sending me another telepathic message. _'Be careful on your way in. Don't touch anything without my permission.'_

Thank the Ancient Ones for human compassion.

* * *

AN:

- If you think it ridiculous that a big fat cerebrate can "gallop", think of the way centipedes move :)

- "Cease-fire" is the process whereby at the end of a military operation, the squads involved pack up, clean up, and prepare to head home.

- Stetman is wearing a gas-mask. When I first wrote this chapter I had forgotten that Char has "an atmosphere that can burn a man alive". As for Kerrigan, well she looked fine laying naked in the WoL ending scene so it should be OK :)

That's all for today.

In the beginning I said I'd only post "hard sci-fi". OK, it's not that hard, but I do apply a lot of real-life scientific/spiritual/whatever-you-call-it concepts to fill in the blanks during the times I get writer's block ( which is practically all the time ).

Please tell me what you think :)

Have a good day/night.

-Star


	3. then and now 2

Yay for Dune & Starship Troopers ( the novel ) ! :D

Legend:

_Xx time, xx place_ : setting

'_hello'_ : telepathic speech

'_**hello'**_ : very strong psychic presence

"Hello" : normal speech

In the following flashback, only one brood of Arachnids is involved, and the outcome of the battle does NOT reflect which species is stronger.

Also, in this fic I only describe in detail those things that are not shown in the game. If you want to know how everything looks like, then … go play Starcraft 2 ! :D

**Chapter 3:**

**

* * *

**

_FLASHBACK … long before the events in Starcraft 1, and right before the creation of the Defiler strain:_

Daggoth had fallen ! Under cover of a devious ruse, the enemy had somehow managed to sneak past its underlings and struck it down. Not only that, they had gotten a hold on its remains ! They had dared take a cerebrate prisoner !

When the images from that terrible scene was relayed to my mind through the Link, I felt as if I had been thrown into a frozen lake, and then pulled out to thaw again. When my senses returned to me, I became restless. The chamber in which I resided bubbled and steamed, barely able to contain my increasingly volatile essence.

'_RELEASE ME !' _

Eventually, the Overmind relented.

'_**Go forth' …**_

And thus I awoke on the surface of Klindatu, a world barren in appearance, but actually home to an isolated brood of Arachnids, and the focus of Daggoth's campaign of assimilation against said species.

The Arachnids were like us, able to manipulate their own biological evolution to a higher extent than most other species, perhaps even more so than us. If we could even incorporate a portion of their strains into us, that would be a great boon to the Swarm ! Unfortunately, this sophistication also made them a frustrating enemy to deal with. Every one of them was a living weapon, armed to the teeth, and totally fearless.

Fearless ? Then I shall strike fear into their minds !

A psychoactive orange haze hung in the air, obscuring our vision. The Arachnids had created this haze to confuse our forces and thus allow them the opportunity to get close to Daggoth.

Very well then, I would repay them in kind, by also striking at the hearts of their hive clusters ! And for that very purpose, I had brought with me one of those strains I had developed in secret and managed to keep out of reach from the other cerebrates.

Daggoth's preliminary invasion force had left behind patches of Creep all over the Klindatu landscape. These had begun to assimilate and recycle whatever biomass they could from the Zerg and Arachnid Warrior corpses strewn all over the ground. As the great Overlords lifted off and hovered over our landing zone, their equally gigantic cargo burrowed immediately through the creep into the desert sand beneath. The ground trembled as mountains of sand were displaced and shifted in minutes. And then, it was quiet again, or so it appeared from the surface.

Expanding my psychic presence, I guided the Nydus Worms towards the nearest Arachnid Hives clusters, whose locations Daggoth had managed to ascertain before the Arachnids blanketed the surface of their world with that haze. I followed one of their paths towards one of the Hives from within the smallest worm.

As we broke through the perimeter of the enemy hive cluster's extensive underground tunnel network, I sensed densed waves of shock and confusion emanating from the vast area before me. The Arachnids had finally detected our approach, and were scrambling frantically to mount a defense, but it was too late for them.

Subterranean walls and partitions crumbled in the massive and powerful jaws of my Nydus Worms. Everytime the latter passed through a chamber, its inhabitants, regardless of caste, were crushed before they could react. Ah, how I reveled in their psychic death-screams !

'_Little insects ! You have believed yourselves capable of outwitting and turning back the Swarm. Now you shall face the true terror that is the Zerg !'_

As we neared the centre of the hive cluster however, the chambers became higher and longer, eventually giving the Arachnids enough room to take post and fight back. And fight back they did, with their strange weapons. They were met with my zerglings and hydralisks, which emerged from the mouths of my Nydus worms in torrents, and bore down upon the Arachnid formations like a brown-black tide bristling with claws and spines. Here, the hives' halls and corridors were lit by the faint glow of bioluminescent toadstools, and I had my first faint glimpses of what the enemy looked like.

Most of them resembled lean-bodied scorpions, but with longer legs in proportion to the rest of the body, and overall body sizes similar to our Hydralisks. They each had one or two pairs of forearms ending in pincers. Organs of manipulation.

Here, Daggoth's impression of them being living weapons was confirmed. Their warriors had enlarged menacing looking pincers, sometimes modified into fluted tubes from which they fired projectiles made of a blue smokeless flame. The … plasma flared up as they immolated some of my zerglings in droves and created a ghastly display of light and shadow. In response, my Hydralisks perforated the enemy with a blizzard barrage of needle-spines, while the Zerglings and pincer-armed Warriors disemboweled each other with savage, profuse swings of their claws.

Daggoth's accounts also attributed to them the ability to unleash fast-spreading plagues which devastated their chosen targets, whether organic or inorganic. This I did not have the chance to witness. Perhaps, with my attack occurring so close to their homes, they could not afford the collateral damage.

My attention was however drawn to another threat. There was a powerful psychic presense within the hive. I had to deal with this personally. I commanded the worm carrying my physical form to head towards the core of the Arachnid's hive complex. Once there, I crawled out through the mouth of my worm,

and was met with a focused blast of psionic energy which almost threw me back inside the worm and nearly knocked me unconscious.

'_LEAVE ! We will never surrender to you !'_ A chorus of voices sounded in my mind. The Arachnids had concentrated the hatred their entire brood felt towards us in that psychic assault. Unfortunately, for them, it was not enough to permanently dispel my essence. Until the appearance of the Dark Templar, there was nothing that could dispel a cerebrate's essence.

Reeling from the blast, I uncurled my body, drew in the lingering destructive foreign psychic energy, and rechanneled them over my head. My feelers extended out, and a deep red glowing haze condensed in the space between their tips. A bolt of eldritch lightning shot out from within this haze into the darkness ahead, illiciting a hiss of intense pain from its surprised victim.

'_All will fall before the Swarm !'_

I crawled forward, probing the corners of the Central Cavern with my psychic tentrils. I could sense the enemy was very near, but I could not see it.

And then right beside me a slab of stone as wide as my own berth suddenly slid off the floor, and a black shape leapt out of the resulting hole and pounced onto me, pushing me over onto my back and stabbing my underbelly with its long sharp pincers.

'_We killed one of your Brains, just as I shall kill you now !'_

Ignoring the pain, I bent forward, grabbed my assailant's head with my forelimbs and jabbed my fangs ( similar to a centipede's enlarged venomous claws ) into it. Through this physical connection, I immediately poured my psychic tendrils into the arachnid's essence, and through its psychic connection with its brood mates, into the puny minds of every arachnid within their hive, and then those in nearby hives, and then even further …

In response, the arachnid constricted its psychic presence to shut out the mental intrusion, and thrashed wildly in an effort to break my grip. Yet I refused to let go, even as my innards were being shredded to pieces.

Just then, I felt a distant yet penetrating psychic signal pass over us.

'_IT IS DONE !'_

I recognized its source, and I relaxed my bite in surprise.

The arachnid, too, stopped all its struggles, and stared through the walls of the cavern into the distance, radiating a sense of disbelief. _'How ... ?'_

Beyond those walls, my psychic senses told me that the arachnid warriors throughout the hive were beginning to withdraw before the brutal and relentless onslaught of my underlings.

While my mangled body rapidly healed and reconstructed itself ( back then we were still empowered by the Overmind ), I reached out to the source of that psychic signal, and sent a series of questions.

'_Daggoth ? You have returned at last ! How were the Arachnids able to suppress your regeneration ?'_

'_They were clever … but mostly … I let them !'_

'_What ?'_

Besides me, the arachnid now radiated a sense of despair as the Arachnids' own collective consciousness informed every member of their brood of what was going on. '_Re – reincarnated before our eyes ! That is impossible ! … How could we hope to defeat a deathless foe ?'_

'_Indeed, the Overmind's power is vast beyond comparison, little insect !' _came Daggoth's reply. '_You were defeated the moment you captured me, for you have allowed me access to your Primary Hive Clusters ! And while the Old One distracted you with its attacks , I have taken control of all your most potent strains ! This world now belongs to the Overmind !'_

'_Then … all this … was planned from the start !' _I exclaimed.

'_**Indeed it was. You have done your part well, now rest …'**_

And then I was overcome by weariness, and the last thing I remembered before passing out again was being swallowed by my own Nydus worm and thus transported up to the surface of the ground above.

_END FLASHBACK_

_

* * *

_

_- the Canteena, aboard the battlecruiser Hyperion, several hours after leaving the surface of Char._

"Those guys sure took their time waking up." Raynor sighed and downed a few more gulps of beer. "I wish I could sleep that long."

"Well, the last few days had been tiring for everyone, your should get some rest too." Matt Horner replied and took a few sips from his glass of water, then looked over at Raynor's beer bottle with a mild disapproving frown. And then that frown intensified as he recalled their interview with the two marines. "The weird thing is, they didn't remember anything about it. They didn't even remember coming back to base."

Raynor chuckled and patted his first officer on the back. "Well, it happens, Matt. Sometimes you just wake up in a strange place wondering 'how the hell did I get here ?', no ?"

"No, I'm serious. I think we should keep a closer eye on that … thing we just brought back." Matt leaned back and peered past Raynor to look at the person sitting on Raynor's other side. Said person stared back at him with wide emerald eyes and a subtle hint of a smile. Matt waved and forced a grin, then turned back to his Commander. " And are you sure it's a good idea to have the Queen of – I mean, Kerrigan, walking around the ship like that ?"

"Well, there's an old saying: You cage the beast, the beast becomes angry." Raynor shrugged, causing the thin brown jacket he was wearing to jump slightly.

And then he heard a husky whisper. "What beast ?"

Raynor stopped halfway through the action of lifting his beer bottle to his mouth as he felt a piercing glare from the source of that voice. And he paused, a sober expression returning to his face, while the glare intensified.

Placing his cup on the bar table, Matt hastily stood up. "Well, I still have some … duties … to attend to. I'll see you around !" He gave Raynor a mock salute ( which still appeared quite impressive considering that he was still wearing his solemn black First Officer uniform ), then turned round and walked briskly towards the entrance of the Canteena.

After a second more of silence, Raynor suddenly turned towards the woman sitting beside him, his eyes wandering everywhere except towards her, and his free hand scratching the stubs on his shaved chin nervously. "Uh, well, you see … what I meant was ..."

"I know what you mean, Jim" Kerrigan's lips were curled up slightly in a seemingly pleasant smile, but the stare in her eyes conveyed a curious mix of other deep emotions that were not noticeable from a first glance at her face. Those eyes had seen a lot, and now they saw into Raynor's thoughts too. "You were always so readable."

"Yeah, heh." Raynor's scratching hand now moved up to his hair and he chuckled as he recalled the first time he met Kerrigan, way back when she was still completely human. His first impression of her was … that she was very "well endowed". And Kerrigan being a telepath had sensed that thought in him instantly, leading to a brief embarrassing moment between them. At that time, he had wanted to get the mission over with as soon as possible so that he would not have time to do something that would make him even more of a "pig".

Now, after all that they had gone through, he was just glad that the both of them were still alive and together.

That thought caused the nervousness in him to disappear, and he just stared back at Kerrigan with a content smile ( though the way his brows always hung low over his eyes gave him a somewhat mischievous look ), not bothering to think of excuses or to discipline his flow of thoughts anymore.

Kerrigan felt the change of mood, and she blushed slightly. The curl of her lips changed to a shallow pout, and she dropped her gaze to the floor. She kept clutching the collar of the bathrobe she was wearing with one hand, while playing with the tips of her nerve-cords with her other hand.

That brought Raynor's attention to the long thin flowing appendages that Kerrigan had in place of hair – a visible reminder of her identity as the former Queen of Blades, the most feared Zerg-Human hybrid in this section of the galaxy. Was "former" the right word ?

"I should let doctor Hanson have a look at you … once we're near Haven."

That made Kerrigan slowly lift her gaze back up at him again. "Who's doctor Hanson ?"

Raynor raised his brows and made a circle in the air with his fingers. "Well, she was a doctor, scientist … a good one. She's got lots of experience with Infested Terrans."

"Hmm …" Kerrigan's eyes narrowed in suspicion and her lips thinned.

Raynor could almost feel it as Kerrigan probed his mind again. Well, she had been doing that lots of times, so that was not much of a problem now … except that …

"YOU KISSED ?" Kerrigan glanced up at him sideways and her mouth hung half open in a mixture of curiosity and mild disbelief.

"Well, yeah, we did … I saved her people from the Zerg, and I stopped the Protoss from burning her world … you know … all in a day's work … but she was very grateful so …" It took a few seconds for him to realize that he was scratching his chin again. "but that was all, there was nothing else bes-amflmmflhm …"

And it took a few more seconds for him to realize that his voice had been muffled because Kerrigan had leaned forward and was now pressing her lips over his.

'_You're mine, Jimmy. Always. … and … now you're all that I have.'_

_

* * *

_

_Meanwhile, on my way to the Hyperion's laboratory …_

What wonders these Terrans possess !

Every one of their chambers contains its own set of surprises ! The sheer amount of new experiences I had been exposed to within the short time I had entered their gigantic main transport was overwhelming even for one of my mental capacity.

The most shocking to me, was the fact that I could not feel the psychic presence of the transport itself. Certainly it was a living being, for I had seen some of the humans interacting with it through special structures protruding from the corridor walls, which I surmised to be its nerve centres. Yet I could not connect with it telepathically in the same way that I connected with, say, my Overlords. Perhaps this great creature had a very strong psychic barrier which prevented outsiders like me from accessing its mind. After a while I just gave up doing that and was content to just observe my surroundings ( and the humans walking past us, who gave us a wide berth when they saw me, even though Kerrigan had repeatedly assured them that I was harmless ) as I followed the "Scientist" towards his chambers.

The "Scientist", who answered to the name of "Stetman", owned a series of special interconnected chambers, where he performed his work. The walls to these chambers were a pristine and smooth white or grey, quite unlike the dark and tarnished texture of the corridors and other chambers elsewhere.

And within one such chamber, along its clean walls were embedded transparent tubular structures in which Stetman kept his most valuable possessions. I peered in through the entrance as I crawled past it, and swept my gaze along its walls, examining the objects held within these simple see-through cocoons.

A few I could not identify. The others were quite familiar, such as the cluster of activated Khaydarin crystals on the far side of the chamber. And then my psychic senses alerted me to a presence even more familiar, and I stared ahead at its source.

The cocoon holding the Khaydarin crystals was on one side of an inner entrance. On the other side was another clear-walled cocoon holding …

Living Zerg flesh !

It was not a whole Zerg creature though. Suspended in some kind of fluid, it was a lump of brown translucent sacs pressed together, with a pulsating heart in its centre, and tendrils branching out pressing against the inner wall of its container.

Perhaps that explained why Stetman was not as frightened of my appearance as the other humans.

Presently, Stetman led me into an adjacent spacious chamber with an entrance just wide enough for me to squeeze through. This one was completely empty, except for a few appendages protruding from the ceiling. Its walls, ceiling and floor were completely covered in flat, pure-white, and very smooth scutes.

"Alright, here we are." He turned towards me. "Now be good and stay here until I come back, K ? I'll talk to the Commander about letting you into other places, but for now … um, try and settle in, OK ?" He showed his teeth and spread his arms. I recognized it as a non-threatening gesture, but I did not know how to respond, or if I needed to respond in the first place.

So we just stared at each other for a few silent seconds.

And then he sighed, lowered his gaze, and his shoulders drooped. "Well, guess it was worth a try."

Briefly he emanated a sense of disappointment, which was slowly replaced by an already present sense of excitement as he turned and walked out through the entrance.

Right outside the chamber, he pulled a thin barrier over so that it covered the entrance completely. The mechanism behind this "door" was intriguing, and for a while I brushed my feelers over it, trying to figure out how it worked.

Having satisfied this trivial curiosity, I turned my attention to a more fruitful task.

I expanded my psychic presence, allowing my psychic tendrils to reach out through whatever walls and partitions I could by-pass and feel the psychic presence of the other living things within the same transport. Kerrigan's one was impossible to miss. She was emanating a strong emotion that my species had not felt for a long time, but when I telepathically requested that she share this emotion with me, so that I may possibly re-acquire an important trait of our ancestors, she shut me out with a mild psychic warning. '_None of your business_ _!_'

So I turned my attentions elsewhere.

And I established a Link with the piece of Zerg flesh that resided somewhere inside the chamber adjacent to mine.

* * *

A/N:

That's all for tonight.

If you're wondering why Kerrigan isn't wallowing in guilt for having "slaughtered millions of innocents" and stuff like that, well actually she is, but that's not the focus of this fic. For that you can go read "Next Steps" by Qwerty-man :)

Also watch for updates for "I was there" by Craftman88.

Thanks to the guys who reviewed, and if you haven't do put in a comment or two … _or you shall face the true terror that is the Swarm !_ … :o

Have a good day/night !

-Star


	4. then and now 3

Yay for Zeratul's kickass entrances :D

Legend:

(xx time, xx place … ) : setting

"hello" : vocal speech

'_hello'_: telepathic speech

'_**hello'**_: very strong psychic presence

I know referring to a cerebrate as "it" can be confusing, so I'll refer to genderless, neotenous beings ( like cerebrates ) as "she" :)

The following should be the last flashback ( I think … )

**Chapter 4:**

**

* * *

**

_( FLASHBACK … several standard months after the Zerg attack on the Xel'Naga worldships orbiting Zerus … long, long before the events in Starcraft 1 … )_

'_Ah, what a feast !'_

I looked up from the Khaydarin crystal I was studying and reared up in surprise as Daggoth lumbered into my chamber.

'_Daggoth, what have you done to yourself ?'_

I felt a terrifyingly dense haze of psionic energy diffusing from Daggoth's psychic presence, but what was most shocking was her appearance.

Distended several times beyond the volume of the physical form that I last saw her in, her flesh had become translucent, and as she crawled on her now stubby legs, her body wobbled as if it was made of gel.

'_Fear not, I have merely … grown faster than we normally do.' _If even as she stopped crawling, there were disturbingly visible and rhythmic convulsions passing along the length of her body. _'The Xel'Naga kept specimens of some rare creatures with incredibly strong life essences. After feeding on them, my own essence has been … expanded.'_

'_You may have consumed too much.' _I crawled over and poked Daggoth's midsection with my feelers. When the latters' tips touched her skin at a certain spot, they created dimples on the surface of the translucent flesh. Ripples spread out from those spots over the rest of her body and she shivered. The haze of psionic energy momentarily thinned out, then returned. I waved my feelers above me in disbelief. _'Your body is barely able to contain your essence. See...' _I poked her skin again, inducing another bout of shivers. _'You were not molting properly. This is dangerous !'_

'_How … does it matter ? Very soon… we won't even need bodies !' _Came Daggoth's reply. Her psychic signals were irregular in their strength, a sign of temporary instability resulting from the sudden dramatic change that she had gone through.

'_I prefer to keep mine.'_ I turned my attention back to the Khaydarin crystals.

Daggoth noticed them as well. _'You appear fascinated by those things.'_

'_They contain disembodied memories … preserved records of the studies that the Xel'Naga had carried out on us.'_ I explained. _'My underlings uncovered many more crystals like this one, but they were mostly too severely damaged for me to extract any meaningful information from them. I am beginning to think that our attack on the Ancient Ones were too wreckless, too destructive.'_

'_What is done is done.' _Daggoth waved her drooping feelers dismissively. _'Let bygones be bygone.'_

'_You will not be so casual if you saw what I have discovered…'_ I picked up the Khaydarin crystal, which was of similar dimensions to my own head, in my forlimbs and handed it to her.

She wrapped her feelers ( now more like tentacles ) around the translucent pale blue, crystal and concentrated her psychic senses into it. The crystal glowed dimly as it interacted with her mind. After a few seconds, she whispered the thought form that arose within her mind.

'_Proto-Zerg …'_

When the Xel'Naga began their experiments on Zerus, there were actually many sub-species of Proto-Zerg, all exhibiting the Purity of Essence to varying degrees, and instead of one bodiless entity forming the dominant consciousness of the entire species, there were many group minds of limited influences.

I am probably the only Zerg old enough to retain an impression of our natural life cycle ( or as natural as the Xel'Naga allowed ). We began life as larvae, anatomically identical to the larvae of the later Swarm. From young we were predators, hunting down, killing and eating the other animals that lived on Zerus. The brood of larvae that I was born into used our psychic Link with each other, as well as our control over a symbiotic fungus that lived in our lairs to set traps and overpower prey several times our size. As we grew we molted, and with each molt a new segment was added to the length of our bodies. After reaching a certain size, instead of gaining extra segments, we began depositing eggs in the cast off cuticle, which we placed on the symbiotic fungus ( precursor to the more familiar "creep" ). The eggs then hatched into clones of ourselves.

According to the crystals, there were some sub-species that live as parasites or parasitoids. Some became totally integrated with their fungal symbiotes. And then there were still other stranger life ecologies.

Whatever the method of acquiring food, we all seemed to have the ability to absorb the genetic material of the organisms we fed on. Over time, some of the larvae began showing the traits of their favourite prey, usually both the advantageous and deleterious ones. Eventually some would metamorphose into creatures so unlike their original form they appeared to be a different species. Most became so mutated that they could no longer reproduce, but they all stayed with the brood and kept in touch with the Link.

A larvae that manages to keep delaying both its metamorphosis and ovulation eventually grows far larger and longer than its brood mates. With each extra segment it gains a new set of neural ganglia. That was how I reached my present size and level of sentience.

The younger cerebrates believed that this was mostly due to the influence of the Overmind. Yes, in a sense the Overmind created them all, but the Khaydarin crystals have revealed another reason for our exaggerated neoteny ( at least for earlier breeds like me ). It seems the Xel'Naga, through selective breeding, had managed to suppress an increasingly rare form of metamorphosis which transformed the affected larva into a more complex form with full control over its genetic expression, believed to be the true adult stage of the Proto-Zerg.

What did this higher stage of our ancestors' life cycles look like ? Why did the Ancient Ones feel the need to suppress it ? Have the genetic material required for the change faded away, or do they still lay dormant yet intact within our cells ?

I was interrupted in my thoughts by a psychic signal from Daggoth.

'_**My children, the time has come to set forth on a new journey.'**_

I straightened my feelers at attention. This was not Daggoth herself. This was the Overmind speaking through her.

'_**After the last battle we have assimilated many things of great value. In particular, we have gained knowledge regarding a previous experiment by the Xel'Naga. These … Firstborn are a truly magnificent species … We now know … we were created to be their complement, and only when the Protoss have been incorporated into the Swarm, shall we be truly complete !'**_

A series of images and thought forms poured into my mind through the Link, and I felt the motivation behind the Overmind's latest long-term goal.

These Protoss were indeed magnificent. And mighty. They had driven the Ancient Ones from their homeworld, just as we had done. Could we defeat such a rival ?

'_**Indeed, our ambition is not easy to achieve. We must**_ _**be patient … and prepare adequately. There are still problems that need to be resolved … obstacles that must be overcome. This moment we face an immediate challenge … traversing the vast Void between the stars. Come, my children, let us depart …'**_

And then the Overmind's psychic presence took over my body as well.

_END FLASHBACK …_

_

* * *

_

_( Presently, in the large lab storeroom temporarily emptied out to accommodate me, _

_one standard day after leaving the surface of Char … )_

I must take over this … "ship" soon ! I still could not establish any kind of Link with its mind. That left me with the second best option: try to mind control every Terran in it, but as I had learned in my first attempts back on Char, the results would be far from immediate, and a whole crowd of humans turning spastic all at once would be of little help to me.

I must therefore proceed silently, one by one, beginning with Stetman.

Presently, the scientist appeared at the door again, pushing a "cart" containing a heavily filled black sac before him. A trashbag. Kerrigan had convinced the others that I could consume almost any organic matter, and they had decided to try feeding me some of their rubbish: papers, leftover food, the occasional rodent.

Not that it mattered to me. After I had carried out my plan, I could just take whatever I wanted.

The moment that Stetman stepped through the door, I extended my mind towards him,

and felt an icy invisible wall just before our minds touched.

Immediately a wave of intense coldness shot through my own psychic presence, and I withdrew immediately. A little later and my essence might have been flash-freezed, paralyzing my body in the process.

The numbness faded, but the shock did not. _'What just happened ?'_

I stared curiously at Stetman. He was standing still, holding on to the bar-handle of his cart with both hands, his face fixed in a curious expression, in the middle of a very long and slow inhale. Totally unmoving. Perfectly still.

Slowly I reached out towards him with my psychic tendrils. And again I recoiled as they were overcome by a cuticle-piercing chill before they reached their target.

'_**It is futile. As long as I am here, you will not use your powers on anyone !'**_

At once, my limbs went limp with terror.

'_Dark Templar !'_

The very air inside the room shimmered, as if I were seeing it through the rippling surface of water. In a second this shimmering gathered itself in the space to Stetman's right, and then condensed into a column of swirling, amorphous, pitch black haze, several heads taller and an arm wider than Stetman himself.

As soon as it appeared the column broke up into rapidly fading wisps, and in its place stood a frighteningly familiar figure.

The Dark Templar, clad in purple and black cloak and face-scarf, now strode towards me. The unblinking glare from his lime-green glowing eyes pierced my spirit and threw it into the unfathomable Void. All was dark and quiet except for the both of us.

This was no ordinary Dark Templar ! and no ordinary Protoss either ! This one had walked on grounds that none of his brethren would dare tread, and fought and prevailed against horrors that would have driven other sentient creatures insane.

'_You were the one who slew Zasz !'_ I stammered. Actually, I whispered, or muttered. There is no adequate word to describe precisely the state of mind that I was in at that moment.

'_**And several others …' **_Zeratul, the much-feared Dark One, raised his right arm and clenched his clawed right hand into a fist. From the back of a bronze, crystal-encrusted gauntlet wrapped around this arm, a straight thin blade of lime-green light shot out to a fraction of the length of his arm. He pointed the tip of this ethereal ( but deadly ) punch-dagger at my forehead. _**'And you will end up just like them, if you attempt to take over the body of any of the Hyperion's crew members again.'**_

I instinctively shrank away from his weapon. I had claws of my own, but I doubted I was agile enough make effective use of them now. Indeed, I possessed no physical advantage over him now, quite ironic considering that I was far more than twice his body length.

And his glare was truly intimidating ! I must direct his attention away from me !

'_What have you done with the human scientist ?'_

'_**A temporary form of paralysis that stops his neural activity as well. Do you wish to feel it ?' **_

Even as he replied, he did not take his eyes off me, but that was fine. My questions would just be to stall for time. And in the mean time, I was preparing my trap.

'_That is unnecessary. I assure you I do not mean to harm these humans. I only wish to return to my Homeworld.'_

The Dark One's lime-green orbs narrowed. _**'You speak of the original Zerg homeworld ?'**_

'_Correct !' _Just a little more time …

'_**I sense the longing in your spirit. I have known that longing before. ... You are truthful.'**_ He mentally sighed and lowered his weapon. The veil of darkness that had surrounded us receded.

Now !

From behind the seemingly unsuspecting Dark Templar, _it_ leapt at him, tentacles spread out like a brown-black cephalopod pouncing over a large prey.

In a flurry of purple and black, Zeratul spun round, swinging his blade of pure energy horizontally in a wide arc, while side-stepping and dropping to a high-kneel at the same time. My accomplice flew over and past him … in two cleanly separated halves.

At once, I crawled backwards to widen the distance between us, psionic energy already gathering at the tips of my feelers. Sparks flew between them as they straightened out to point towards the Dark One's back.

The next moment, a cloud of pitch black mist exploded into existence right in front of me, blacking out my entire field of vision. I shuddered violently and screeched both vocally and telepathically as sharp pain stabbed right through my head and face from the base of my feelers.

When the cloud faded, Zeratul stood just an arm's length before me. In his non-weapon hand he held the pair of appendages that he had sliced off from me. _**'I will be keeping these … fear not, you will live. I have endured something similar.'**_

With that, he turned and walked out through the door of the chamber. _**'Next time … your entire head comes off.'**_ He pushed past the still immobile Stetman and then vanished.

I stared silently at the door for a few more seconds. Then I looked at the two halves of the creature I had summoned to help me, now lying on the floor before me in pools of a red-black fluid, the same fluid now drifting from the stumps of my severed feelers. The bulbous clump of sacs that made up their main body were still pulsating, and the tendrils sprouting from the latter were still twitching, and slowly jerking and heaving the two halves in random directions.

I crawled over them, gathered them together,

Then brought them to my mouth and chewed.

By the time that Stetman awoke from Zeratul's spell, completely unaware of what had happened within this room for the past few minutes, I had finished eating and laid down to rest, curled up in a ball at the inner side of the room.

Seeing that for now he could not observe any interesting behaviour from me, he sighed, turned, and left.

A moment passed, then I felt the sudden sense of shock and horror emanating from the smaller adjacent room, his "lab".

Quickly, I uncurled myself and briskly crawled out through the door, turning in the opposite direction to the entrance of his "lab".

* * *

_(at Jim Raynor's quarters … )_

Three consecutive sounds of tapping on hard plastic.

That woke Jim Raynor from his reverie. He took a deep breath, then stood and walked over to the door. He slided it open, then almost jumped back in surprise.

"Zeratul ! … For God's sake why do you keep appearing out of nowhere !"

"The path that I have chosen requires that I always stay hidden for as long as possible." The former Dark Templar prelate answered in the deep, reverberating voice he used when he was not communicating telepathically. "Force of habit."

"Right." Raynor raised his brows and waved a hand to indicate sarcasm. "You might as well appear right in the middle of my room."

Instead of laughing, Zeratul, for some reason, seemed to actually consider that possibility. "Would that be convenient ?" He asked with a slight tilt of his head, and what could count as the Protoss version of a straight face. Of course, with the way half his face was wrapped up in cloth, it was impossible to tell.

"Ha, funny." Raynor allowed himself a chuckle, and then a tired smile on his face. "Ok, what is it this time ? You wanna tell me that we need Mengsk alive to save the universe too ?"

"As yet we have no reason to believe that is the case, but we must always keep an open mind." Zeratul peered past Raynor into the dark interior of his room. The latter was highly utilitarian and minimalist. A layer of squishy blue-grey padding covered every exposed square foot of the walls and floor, as if the whole room was built of shallow water-beds. Half sunken into this padding was: a sleeping bag, closet and drawer on one side., and desk, shelves, and a computer terminal on the other, leaving just enough floor space for one other human to lie down on it. There was a door leading to the bathroom on the far side.

On top of the sleeping bag there lay the figure of a familiar human ( well not entirely ) female, covered in a sheet of simple white blanket up to her waist. Presently, she turned around and her eyes met with Zeratul's.

"I see you already have the Queen of Blades well-accomodated. We can now move on to other matters." Zeratul pointed a hand past Raynor at the inside of the room. "May I enter ?"

"Yes, of course." Raynor stepped aside and motioned for Zeratul to step through the door. "Though given all those crazy powers you have, I doubt anyone can stop you from going anywhere."

"My powers do not arise from insanity, … though delving too deep into the Void does pose some risk to one's mental stability." Zeratul walked along the narrow floor space, and stopped in the middle, all the while holding Kerrigan's gaze. He then leaned back and sat on the desk behind him. Other than the lime green glow in his eyes, the only other source of illumination was the strip of light which shone in through the door from the corridor outside and seemed to bisect the room.

Raynor walked over as well and sat on the bed, facing Zeratul, while Kerrigan sat up as well, and turned to lean her back against the wall. She stared at Zeratul for a few seconds, then at Raynor, then back at Zeratul …

The Dark Templar broke the silence. "What did you do with the Artifact ?"

"We split it." Raynor sighed. "We had already sold the thing to Valerian. It was legally theirs."

Now Zeratul raised a brow. "I know, friend Raynor, you are not one to follow the Dominion's laws."

"No I'm not." Raynor shook his head slightly. "but sometimes we've got to compromise. We let them keep part of it, they let us go. It's a good deal."

"Indeed." Zeratul nodded slowly and stroked the tip of his facescarf. Briefly a frown settled onto his brows, then vanished.

"You know … we could have used your help on Char."

"I was present throughout the entire battle. How did you think your ship managed to survive the continuous waves of spore missiles ?"

"You mean … "

"I could not go to the planet's surface." Zeratul pointed one clawed finger downwards. "The Artifact would drain my life as well, unless I was in stasis. thus …" He then turned said finger upwards. "… I decided that I would be of greater help inside my Void Seeker."

It took a second for Raynor to piece together the exact meaning of Zeratul's gesture. Abruptly, he stood up and crossed over to the computer terminal on the desk. Said terminal comprised two display screens and a series of input devices, plus some other dubious electronic devices. Raynor was about to access the ship's InterCom and ask Matt to scan the Hyperion's vicinity for any cloaked Protoss vessels, when he heard Stetman's voice over the InterCom.

"Uh … Sir, we've got a problem."

Raynor found the InterCom control panel. "What sort of problem ?"

"Well, remember the Zerg bio-sample I was accumulating ? It was alive, and it's … escaped, sir."

Raynor visibly tensed. "You know where it is ?"

"No, sir. And that's not all, that Zerg specimen we just brought on board has … also run away."

Zeratul leaned in beside Raynor and spoke. "Be calm, young man. The Zerg bio-sample you speak of has been disposed of. The other … Zerg creature you mentioned will not cause you any harm. I have made sure of that."

"Huh ? … Who is that ?" Stetman's voice stuttered.

"Friend of mine. He came over for a visit." Raynor replied, then turned to Zeratul and whispered, "You _know_ what's going on ?"

Before Zeratul could compose an answer, another voice sounded over the Intercom.

"Sir … Swann here." the voice of Hyperion's chief engineer trailed off for a bit, as if he was looking away for a moment. Raynor could hear faint curses and exclamations in the background. And after a second there was a short beeping noise in the Intercom. Adding channels.

And then finally Swann continued. "Stetman, this is Swann. Commander, you still there ?"

"I am. What's happening ?"

Swann replied excitedly. "Sir, the BIG WORM just got into the Engineering Bay, and IT'S NOT LEAVING ! "


	5. Mutation

The following chapter is filled with dialogue, and due to my limited vocabulary some parts may appear repetitive, but this chapter is quite important so please bear with me XP

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**

* * *

**

_( One of the Hyperion's corridors, on their way to the Armoury … )_

"There's … hundreds more of those Motherships out there ?"

"At least hundreds. For the past few cycles, Artanis has been recalling most of them back to this sector. Already a few of them have been incorporated into the Protectorate's main fleet."

"Wow." Raynor exhaled in wonder as he tried to imagine several hundreds of the largest spaceships he had ever seen gathering together in one space. "That'll be one heck of a party."

"Indeed, it will. In three standard weeks the Hierarchy is holding a Summit to discuss the major issues facing our people now, including the reclamation of Aiur, and the threat posed by the Hybrids. Representatives from every Protoss settlement and group in the galaxy will be attending. I will make my appearance as well, to present my own findings. It is my wish … " Zeratul placed one hand on Raynor's shoulder, and tapped Kerrigan's back with another. "that you accompany me to Shaquras, along with any allies you can summon."

For a moment both Raynor and Kerrigan slowed their walking pace. When they resumed their previous walking speed, Kerrigan, who had not spoken since exiting Raynor's quarters minutes ago, finally asked, "Does that includes me ?"

"Yes, for you are the key ... " Zeratul could not see Kerrigan's face from behind, but he felt a sense of uncertainty from the former leader of the New Swarm. "Understandably, my people will not welcome you, given all the atrocities that the Queen of Blades had committed against them ..."

Zeratul's voice trailed off to a low dark tone. He stared at Kerrigan through narrowed eyes and slowly slid his hand up and curled a clawed finger and thumb around Kerrigan's neck. The latter tensed her shoulders slightly under his touch and let out a barely audible gasp. Zeratul quickly withdrew his claws and continued speaking as if nothing happened. " … but right now a larger threat looms over us all. We must learn to put aside our old hatreds and work together."

"Jim … " Kerrigan shifted closer towards Raynor until their arms touched, and Raynor felt her delicate trembling fingers close around the edge of his own hand. He looked at her with a reassuring smile. "You'll be fine, I promise you. If anyone wants to touch you, he must get through me …" then he frowned. "… no wait that sounded wrong." Kerrigan felt the images flashing through Raynor's mind, and she chuckled. "I get it. Thanks."

Feeling the mood lighten, Zeratul asked, "So you agree to come to the Summit then ?"

Raynor nodded. "Yeah, but before that I'm planning on visiting a friend of mine. Last I saw her she was trying to find a cure for Zerg infestation. I want to see how she's doing."

"Ah, I too am curious." Zeratul paused. He lowered his gaze and stroked the lower tip of his face scarf as he recalled something. "Infestation … Cure … Cosmic Tumour … the nightmare that was not meant to be …" He slowly muttered.

"What did you say ?" Raynor stopped walking and looked back at Zeratul.

Still Zeratul muttered to himself, deep in thought. "My people, and the Zerg. The same creators. Unfinished experiments. The Old One …"

Now both Raynor and Kerrigan had stopped walking and were facing Zeratul. "Zeratul, if there's something else we should know …"

Zeratul seemed like he was about to reply, but he hesitated. "_What if I was wrong … no, that is the closest explanation._" Zeratul's eyes narrowed and the lime green glow in them intensified.

Then finally he looked up. "Friend Raynor, the Zerg that we had been fighting, were not the true Zerg !"

A 'huh?' expression emerged on Raynor's face, while Kerrigan just stared and blinked at the Dark Templar in silence.

Seeing the confused look on their faces, Zeratul simply took a deep breath, straighted his back, and gently patted their shoulders. "All will be revealed in time … Now let us proceed to our current destination shall we ?"

* * *

_( Hyperion Armoury … )_

I felt terrible. The pieces of Zerg flesh that I had eaten had been a living sample cultured from a multitude of rare strains - brutalisks, infestors, and even a few "fossil" strains that I had not seen for a very long time ( where in the Void did these Terrans obtain those samples ? ). Already, from within my gut it was spreading its mutagens all over my body like a fungus growing through a felled log. That, combined with the lingering pain of losing my external psionic appendages, left me very disoriented. I crawled through the ship's claustrophobic corridors guided by nothing but instinct.

Eventually, I emerged into a chamber more spacious than any I had passed since coming aboard this ship.

The sudden change of environment dispelled some of my pain, and eventually all awareness returned to me when I heard the response of the humans within this chamber towards my appearance.

"Whoa … are my screws getting loose … or is that ..."

There was a chorus of gasps and shouts. I could not tell who was making those noises. For the first time in my life I had to rely totally on my eyes to get my bearings.

This chamber was cuboid, a recurring shape among all Terran structures, and it was huge. I reckoned that an entire overlord could have fitted in there, perhaps even more.

I had entered through a trapezoidal entrance, much taller than the doors to the other rooms. At the bottom of the wall on the far side was a similar entrance.

The wall to my right was totally transparent, allowing a view of the outside, which I gradually recognized as starry blackness of Outer Space. For a while I admired the breathtaking sight.

Again, I heard some shouts from the humans. I glanced around. The wall to my left was completely opaque, with ribbed structures crisscrossing its dull metallic surface. Stairs. One long balcony spanned the middle level of this wall from one side to the other. On this balcony, the humans had gathered, and seemed to be starring apprehensive at me as I crawled into the middle their chamber.

Well, if they were that afraid of me, then I need not be concerned with them. I lowered my gaze and swept it around me. Apparently, this was the chamber where the humans maintained their metal exoskeletons and beasts of war. I had wanted to observe this process for myself, but these … "engineers" had halted their work the moment they saw me. What a disappointment.

Just then I heard a few clicks and whirls from above, and looked up at the balcony again. Apparently, some of the humans had managed to bring out their projectile weapons and were now aiming them at me. If I still had my feelers, I would have no trouble ripping their minds apart before they could even fire, but now my psychic senses were severely blurred. The most I could do now was to crawl behind one of their metal flying beasts and curl up defensively.

Even that did not provide any sense of safety for long, for after a while I heard a new set of footsteps approaching. Turning towards its source I saw three figures enter the chamber from the entrance opposite to the one I just used.

The one on the left was the Elite leading this Terran fleet. The other Terrans here referred to him "Commander" while Kerrigan called him "Jim". He had taken off his armour and now wore the soft outer covering, the "cloths", that most humans wore when they were not in battle. Beside him was Kerrigan, also casually dressed ( Now she looked even more human ) And behind them both was Zeratul.

The three of them stood at the entrance and stared at me for a while. Then Kerrigan let out a gasp and ran towards me. This startled the Elite, who immediately tried to catch up to her. Zeratul, on the other hand, casually walked after them, whie keeping his eyes on me all the time.

Kerrigan was standing before me now, looking at me with … what was that expression ? Worry ? Sadness ? She raised a finger and gently prodded one of the stumps of my severed feelers. At once a sharp pain shot through my head, and I abruptly withdrew the anterior segments of my body by several feet.

"It's not healing." She whispered. That tone in her voice. It was something I had never heard before, and it evoked a strangely pleasant feeling within me. She then looked over at Zeratul, "Did you do this ?".

The Dark Templar simply nodded.

Kerrigan turned towards me again, and this time she placed a hand over my head, while lowering her own face and closing her eyes.

The mild pleasant sensation from before now grew. A wave of warmth washed over my body, dispelling my fear of the Dark Templar's presence, replacing it with another feeling, one which was more calming, more reassuring.

I felt like I was with my brood again … but how was that possible ? My entire brood had been wiped out on Char. The next moment the emotions within me shifted. I knew Kerrigan was searching through the chaos of my mind for something. What could it be ?

A barely noticeable frown settled on Kerrigan's brows, then vanished. Then, I saw a subtle smile on her face.

A familiar landscape appeared around me in my mind's eye.

Zerus.

The effect was overwhelming.

I knew a great change was occurring within me, but the ordeal was made easily bearable by the refreshing experience of sharing memories for the first time with another being who was not a cerebrate,

And the sight of tears streaming down Kerrigan's cheeks.

* * *

Raynor let his shoulders droop and breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the Big Worm finally stop trembling and uncurl itself into a more relaxed posture.

He shook his head and whispered. "Just what is that thing ?"

Beside him, Zeratul replied while still keeping his gaze on "that thing". "It is Klhulhu, one of the original Cerebrates of the Zerg Swarm."

"Oh." Raynor nodded slowly, then his eyes widened. "It's a WHAT !" Immediately, he looked back at the afore-named Old One, and took several steps back. Horrific scenes from the battle against the Cerebrates during the Great War replayed themselves in his head. "I knew it had some connection to the Swarm … but damn !" He shook his head in disbelief.

"Calm down. It is … as you always say … on the level." Zeratul assured his human friend, ending with one of Raynor's catchphrases.

"A minute." Raynor raked his hands through his hair and took a deep breath. "OK, everything's fine."

Zeratul momentarily glanced at Raynor to make sure the latter was really fine, then he gestured towards both Kerrigan and the Old One. "Behold, the oldest and youngest fully-scientient members of the Zerg Swarm, together in one place."

Raynor placed his hands on his hips and raised a brow. "I get the feeling that this is again part of some twisted Xel'Naga prophecy."

"Indeed." Zeratul nodded.

Raynor threw both hands halfway in the air. "No kidding."

"For us, prophecy is one word to describe it, but not always appropriate …" Zeratul lowered his gaze as he tried to make sense of what he had learned from his travels. "From the Ancient Ones' perspectives, this is but a way to ensure the success of their experiments, even after they have left. They had everything planned out, even manipulating our histories and mythology to achieve the result that they desired. We younger species do not possess the powers of prediction that the Ancient Ones had, thus some of the knowledge they have left us _appears_ to us be obtained through miraculous means. Prophecies."

"Hm. Makes sense,"Raynor rubbed his chin, and sighed"… but if they knew so much, then why couldn't they just take care of everything right from the start ? Would make our lives easier … "

"Clearly they could not. After studying the various Xel'Naga relics that I've come across in my journeys, I believe I have come close to unraveling some of their mysteries. And …" Zeratul gestured towards the cerebrate. "According to what I have learned, I believe this … Old One … plays an important part in the Great Guardians' plans. That is why I have not killed it."

"And I have absolute faith in your judgement."Raynor quipped sarcastically. "What did you say its name was again ?"

"Klhulhu, the Old One."

"Did you say Lulu ?"

"It is Klhulhu." Zeratul corrected him.

"Kuku ?"

"Klhulhu."

"Tutu ?"

"Klhulhu."

"Lulu ..." Raynor tried again to pronounce the name vocally. "Lulu. Who'd have thought. Nice name for a Zerg." Raynor laughed then walked up to stand beside Kerrigan.

From where he stood, Zeratul could see Raynor raise a hand and place it over where Kerrigan was touching the Cerebrate's head, and leaned in towards her.

Before Zeratul could hear what they were whispering to each other, a familiar voice from behind him caused him to turn around.

"Um … hi, uh … your're that old friend that Boss mentioned over the Intercom right ?" It was the Hyperion's young science expert.

Stetman flinched when he saw Zeratul glaring down at him. However, one does not make a living out of scientific experimentation by being timid, so he quickly overcame his nervousness.

"Um, you see, I've been studying some of the Protoss gadgets we picked up on our missions, but recently I've been having some problems with the power source."

"You have a bountiful supply of power, but you do not know how to channel it precisely where you want it." Zeratul finished the sentence for him.

"Yeah, that's about it." Stetman forced the friendliest grin he could. Behind him, Swann and the other engineers in the Armoury had gathered around him, and were peering past him at the Dark Templar with a mixture of wariness and anticipation. They were eager to see Zeratul's reaction, but remained at a safe distance away, half-expecting the Protoss's deadliest assassin to give them a "if I show you how, then I'll have to kill you …" answer.

To their surprise, Zeratul gave a shallow nod. "Very well, we can start by bringing out the Khaydarin crystal you've been hiding in your laboratory."

"OK." Stetman now wore a genuine excited grin, then yelped as he saw what he thought was a furry animal jump onto his shoulder.

It was Swann's beard. From behind, the chunky Chief Engineer pressed his face close to Stetman's and raised his brows in suspicion, causing his bushy brows to jump like Squirrels' tails. "What did he say you're 'hiding' ?" He asked while snapping those mechanical claws that he always wore over his right arm.

"Well, uh, you'll see …"

* * *

What exactly is this relationship that Kerrigan shares with "Jim" ?

How do humans of the same Brood maintain their bonds with each other while retaining their individual personalities ?

After three millennia of existence as little but a semi-conscious extension of the Swarm, only now, having left the Swarm, do the above questions become especially meaningful to me.

I cannot describe it. The Zerg had had no need for words.

All I can say … is that it is beautiful. I wish Daggoth and the others were here.

One by one, the past events of my life flashed through my mind's eye, from the moment I first achieved sentience, to when I dug myself out of the ground on Char. I tried to hold on to some of these visions, but as soon they appeared they they were gone, replaced by newer ones. Very soon I was having glimpses of memories that I never thought I had.

I lost almost all awareness of the external world. This was not helped by the nauseating physical upheavals now occurring within my body. My organs were shifting, convulsing, breaking up in ways that I never thought possible, even though from the outside everything looked fine due to the cover of my cuticle. I could not feel the ground beneath me. Something was interfering with my sense of touch. Nevertheless, I was probably writhing about in a frighteningly unnatural manner, for I could still feel the sense of shock and panic from the humans around me.

I heard "Jim"'s voice faintly. "What the hell …"

It was followed by Kerrigan's reply. "Jim … it's …"

And then I felt Kerrigan's psychic presence in my mind. She was trying to find the cause of my condition and to stabilize it. Eventually, I did feel a sense of calmness, but not in the way we expected.

I realized that just as my old internal body structure was dissolving away and reforming itself, so was my Essence.

Before my mind was overcome by the transformation, I let out one last Scream.

* * *

Ignoring the chilling groan that now rippled out from the cerebrate and shook the entire Armoury, and a momentary blurring in his vision accompanied by a sharp pain within his skull, Raynor knelt forward and caught Kerrigan's body as she staggered backwards, holding her head in her hands.

"Sarah ! What happened ? Sarah !"

"It's … changing …" Kerrigan whispered. Her eyes were tightly shut and she shook her head slowly. To others, it appeared as if she was having a depressing dream. In truth it was the aftereffect of a sudden excruciating headache. Raynor had been around psychics long enough to recognise its usual cause.

Then he looked up at the Cerebrate called Lulu, now lying motionless at the bottom of the giant window. Its entire body was now completely wrapped up in a thick layer of a smooth white fibrous substance. Silk.

When the echoes died down, a loud beep sounded throughout the Armoury, followed by Matt Horner's voice over the Intercom.

"Bridge to Commander, please respond."

Lifting Kerrigan in his arms, he turned and walked towards one of the Armoury's entrances .

"Bridge to Commander, please respond !"

One of the few crewmen still left in the Armoury rushed towards Raynor, and held up a Communicator to the side of his face.

"Thanks." Raynor then spoke into the Communicator. "Raynor here. What is it ?"

"Commander, we'll be reaching Haven in two hours. Do we proceed towards the New Agria colony as planned ?"

"Yes, locate a safe landing zone once we get there." Raynor answered. "And prepare the Hercules. There's something that we need to get off this ship ASAP."

"Understood, Commander."

* * *

_( Hyperion laboratory … )_

"The Psionic Matrix can be accessed through the means I have described, but the best control is achieved via a direct psychic Link from the user's mind."

Zeratul focused his attention on the miniature pylon that lay on the table. The trapezohedral crystal with a chain of cables and circuitry components wrapped around its midsection, began to levitate until it was suspended one feet above the surface of the table. It righted itself in the air like a compass spinning to point back at North, until the axis running through one tip of the crystal to the other was now completely vertical.

Beside him, Stetman brought an instrument which resembled a portable voltmeter close to the floating crystal. The measurement device beeped profusely. "Whoo ! Off the charts !"

After a few seconds, the crystal began to wobble and emit a strong glow from within like a lamp being switched own. The device in Stetman's hands let out one long continuous beep. Immediately, Zeratul poked one of the circuitry components attached to the crystal with a clawed finger, and the scaled-down Pylon model returned to normal.

Zeratul then looked over towards the larger clump of multi-hued crystals held within one of the large water-filled transparent cylinders along the walls. "Raw Khaydarin crystals grow by drawing in matter and energy from their surroundings. They can be Refined to bring out certain desired properties, and make them safer for use, but in the process they stop growing."

"Well, that thing's been adding power to the ship for quite some time." Throughout the conversation, Stetman had been fiddling with his small goatee in a relaxed version of the 'Thinker' pose as he tried to mentally absorb and digest everything that the Dark Templar had said. "There was some weird stuff going on but I don't remember anything unsafe happening … "

"Intriguing …" Zeratul settled into his own contemplative stance, placing both hands on the table and the letting the claw tips on one hand touch those on the other. "Has it been that way all along ? Then those incidents during the Aeon of Strife … and the subsequent wars …" The Dark Templar sighed. "If only we could ask the Ancient Ones directly. It was they who engineered the crystals. They may contain secrets which we have yet to uncover."

Then suddenly Zeratul jerked back in his seat and turned his head upwards. His hands trembled spasmodically. His eyes flared bright white for a moment before returning to its usual dim green. "It has BEGUN !"

Stetman had instinctively leaned away from the taller Protoss and fallen from his own seat in reaction to the latter's sudden movement. "Ow !" He struggled to sit up and massaged the ping-pong sized bump forming behind his head. Then as he looked up and saw Zeratul staring up at the ceiling. Eventually he realised that the Dark Templar had been himself shocked by something else. "What ... what was that about ?"

Still reeling from the sudden psychic shockwave that he had felt through the Void, Zeratul slowly turned to face the young human scientist. "Thousands of years ago a decision was made. At first it seemed logical, but eventually it allowed the Dark Voice to corrupt an entire species and turn it into a monstrous agent of destruction. The Ancient Ones realized their error too late.

Now ... with the Old One's final metamorphosis, that mistake is finally ... rectified."

"OK …" Stetman could only understand half of what Zeratul was saying, but he understood enough to ask one important question, "That sounds like a good thing … right ?"

Now Zeratul's gaze became distant. He did not reply.

* * *

A/N

That wraps up the beginning portion of this saga. I do have a rough idea of how to continue the story, but as I've said in the first chapter, I won't promise any updates :P

Do put in a review and tell me what you think.

Also, I've been watching a series of Japanese thrillers called Tomie. Read the manga which they were based on as well. Really interesting concept. I highly recommend them ;) ( unless you hate horror stories )

Have a good day/night :)

-Star


	6. The Cure

Thanks to those who have reviewed or put this on Story Alert :)

Again, if something has already appeared in the game, I won't be describing it in detail. Just Google !

Plus, my vocab is really limited :/

* * *

**Chapter 6: The Cure**

**

* * *

**

_Dr. Ariel Hanson's lab, Agrian settlement cluster, Haven …_

_..._

The moment the face of the familiar rebel leader appeared on the holographic display screen, Hanson's own expression lit up. "Jim ! Captain ! Sir !"

"Hi, how're you doing, doc ?" James Raynor flashed one of his charming smiles, which also appeared shrewd, and slightly menacing to some, due to his low brows.

"I'm uh … fine !" Hanson stammered, not yet able to compose her thoughts. When she did she was no calmer. Just seeing Raynor made her heart race a little. That, coupled with the present … circumstances on Haven.

"You sure ? My boys and I are stopping over your world for a while." Raynor raised his brows in a conscious effort to appear kinder. "I've got a present for you. Two presents, in fact."

"Really !" Hanson allowed the 'pleasant surprise' to show on her face. "That's great ! … Thank you !" She took a deep breath, then visibly relaxed.

She did not know if Raynor noticed that slight change in posture. At this point, he had moved off the screen to talk to someone in another part of his room.

When he returned to the screen, Raynor had a worried expression on his face. "Ariel, our sensors are picking up Zerg life-signs scattered all over the planet, except the areas around your settlements. What's going on ?"

"Well …" Hanson paused, looking away from Raynor's eyes, then sighed. "As you know we've been keeping those refugees infected by the ZH ( Zerg Hyper-evolutionary ) virus under quarantine. We set up every precaution we could, but somehow … one of them got out."

She tensed, half-expecting Raynor to ask her how the hell that happened, especially after all the trouble they went through with the Protoss over this issue.

Raynor looked like he was about to do that, but he must have noticed her nervousness. Instead, he blinked, thought for a while, then replied. "We'll need to improve the security measures then. Have they attacked ?"

"No. We've set up UV beams at our perimeter outposts." Hanson looked down at her table for a while, then shook her head and returned her gaze to the screen. "We didn't want to risk more lives by sending hunting parties too far out from the settlements, so eventually their numbers started increasing in remote locations. I think they're multiplying on their own, but we have no idea how. It's a matter of time before they swarm in on us, and then we'd probably have to evacuate again."

"One thing at a time, doc. How close are we to the cure ?" Raynor asked.

"Depends on how you define 'close'." Hanson leaned to one side in her chair and rested her forehead in one hand. "The ZH virus mutates at a frightening rate. Everytime we think we've purged it, it comes back in full force, and more resilient against UV radiation."

At this moment the face of a youthful, pale-looking woman appeared next to Raynor. She was stunning, literally. Hanson stared wide-eyed at the screen motionless for a second, before noticing the strange appendages flowing off the woman's head. She realized that Raynor had backed away slightly and was looking at her in surprise as well. And then he quickly turned back towards the screen again. "Ariel, this is … Sarah, … Sarah"

"Kerrigan." The woman finished for him. "You must be Dr. Hanson. Jimmy has told me a lot about you. I look forward to seeing you … in person."

The way that Kerrigan was grinning at her sent a few chills down Hanson's spine.

"Anyway …" Raynor pressed his face close to the screen so that he blocked most of Kerrigan's figure from view. "Don't worry, we'll be fine." Raynor patted the edge of his own screen and gave a reassuring smile. "See you on the surface." And then the holographic image blurred and dissolved away.

Hanson rested her head back down onto an arm, and whispered to herself, "One thing at a time …"

* * *

_Some hours later …_

_..._

All the walls, floor, and ceiling were covered with milky white, flexible, featureless plasti-ceramic tiles to give the interior a pristine, respectable atmosphere. Heavy equipment, workstations and storage chambers and cabinets were built into niches along the walls, along with an automatic sliding door. The close observer may notice some cables emerging from otherwise tightly sealed gaps between the plasti-ceramic tiles, running over those tiles for one to a few feet, and then disappearing into other gaps or the backs of certain machinery.

The plan of the main lab-room was square and utilitarian, and might have looked like a civilian dining room before renovation. At the centre of the room there was even what looked like a rectangular dining table, except that instead of cutlery and dish tray, there were smaller scientific equipment, and some documents strewn over it. Directly over this table, attached to the ceiling, was an assortment of lamps and other dubious instruments mounted on movable armatures.

Presently, the door slid open, and Raynor, Kerrigan, Hanson, and Gabriel Tosh stepped into the room. Raynor was wearing his usual leather jacket and khaki trousers, Kerrigan in black pyjamas, and Tosh in his modified Spectre outfit.

"Um, take a seat …" Hanson gestured towards the chairs placed around the table, and waited for Raynor and Kerrigan to sit down at one side of the table. Tosh just stood silently at a distance from the table, playing with his balisong knife. That non-chalant look was misleading. As a spectre, Tosh could react to trouble faster than most other people, and for that reason he was brought along. That, and Tosh was himself curious about Kerrigan.

Hanson, then walked over to the opposite side and pulled a nearby chair behind her, all the time keeping her gaze on Kerrigan. Then she sat down, stretched herself and took a long relaxing breath. "Whew …"

"… that was quite an experience !" Kerrigan mimicked Hanson's gesture and spoke the same sentence in sync with Hanson's own words. It was an eerie thing to see and hear, especially that teasing way that Kerrigan glanced back at Hanson whenever she anticipated the latter's surface thoughts.

"Please ... stop that !" Hanson raised her hands in front of her face and sobbed dryly. This woman sitting in front of her may not be the Queen of Blades anymore … but she was still _evil_ !

"Aw, doctor, you break my heart !" Kerrigan feigned a hurt look. "Now what do I do ? I need a new heart … " She slid one hand forward over the table, and grinned and licked her lips while giving Hanson a predatory stare.

Hanson placed her hands down and looked up, just in time to see Kerrigan's gesture, and her face paled. Tosh shot his gaze towards Kerrigan. The knife stopped spinning in his hands and pointed downwards in a firm grip.

"Sarah, cut it out !" Raynor scolded lightly, then turned to Hanson. "Don't mind that, she's just playing."

At this point, Kerrigan sat back and laughed. "Haha … the look on your faces !"

Meanwhile, Hanson yelped as she saw a rugged dark-skinned hand land on her right shoulder, and heard Tosh whisper into her ear. "Do not be afraid Doctor, she be hiding the terrible scars in her own soul, by scratching at yours."

Hanson took a second to make sense of the Spectre's peculiar manner of speech, then sighed, "Whatever …" and placed clipboard on the table. "Let's get this over with, OK."

"Right." Raynor nodded. "What do the tests say ?"

"Let's see." Hanson glanced briefly at her clipboard, then looked up again and smiled. "Good news is, she's not infested, and her body is in very good condition, physically."

"And … the bad news ?" Raynor raised a brow.

"Well, not exactly bad, it's just …" Hanson flipped two pages on her clipboard, then continued. "It seems that her own physiology has changed a lot from the human norm, especially in terms of psionic organs. The change has gone way beyond that of a Spectre … that is … if our friend here is representative of Spectres." She pointed a thumb at the dark-skinned man now standing beside her. "As I said, it's not really bad …"

" … but you think I'm dangerous." Kerrigan finished the sentence.

"I … I've never seen a case like yours before …" Hanson continued, trying not to meet Kerrigan's momentarily cold stare. "It's as if, instead of getting taken over by Zerg tissue, your body has evolved in response … into a new species … cladistically human but also more than human … some kind of missing link to a …" Hanson's voice softened slightly. "What am I saying ? Evolution does not work like that. That's impossible."

"Oh, but in this case it does." Kerrigan said with a slight smirk. "OK, I had help."

Raynor rested his chin between the thumb and index finger of one hand, and narrowed his eyes in thought. "Zeratul told me, that Sarah is the key to the future. Not the prophecy itself, but she shows the way … so he said. Maybe this is what he meant."

"Ze …" Hanson did not quite catch the pronunciation of Zeratul's name, but she had a vague idea of who Raynor was referring to. " … is that one of your Protoss friends ?"

"Zeratul, yes, he's quite a high ranking Dark Templar. Been through a lot …" Raynor paused momentarily, searching within his memories for the shortest and most appropriate way to describe his old friend. "He likes to go invisible and walk into peoples' places uninvited. For all we know he could be standing right here and watching us."

"Really ?" Hanson waved towards the space at the unoccupied side of the table and smiled. "Hello there !". Normally she would be creeped out at the thought of an alien spying on her lab so effortlessly, but now she already had had half a day of inoculation against creepiness, no thanks to Kerrigan, and on some occasions, Tosh.

Raynor chuckled. "Just joking. Right now, he's somewhere else. Speaking of that, remember I told you I brought you two presents ?"

"Of course." Hanson forced a business-like smile to cover her inner feeling of mild apprehension. The first "present" had turned out to be Kerrigan. "Sir, I must say, I feel … honoured … for receiving such a rare research opportunity. It's … mind blowing." She glanced momentarily at Kerrigan.

Raynor caught onto Hanson's sarcastic tone, and laughed. "Don't worry Ariel, the second one isn't a human-Zerg hybrid. It's just …"

"Phew." Hanson breathed out inaudibly.

"… Zerg." Raynor finished. "As in ... the _original_ Zerg."

* * *

_A few more hours later … in a large forest clearing … some distance outside the established perimeter of the Agrian settlement cluster …_

_..._

Zeratul looked up at the thick white clouds above, shading his eyes with one hand to block out the glare of the sun reflected off of them. It was midday on this part of Haven, supposedly the best time for the Terran colonists to travel out of their settlements.

Presently, he heard a faint humming noise, and several small black shapes flew in from outside his field of vision. Two of them grew larger as they descended from the sky, and the humming noise became more audible. Soon, the approaching objects became recognizable to Zeratul as common Terran military transports.

The dropships landed near the edge of the arena-sized clearing, and the doors to their passenger compartments opened up. Stepping out from within one dropship were three Raider marines, followed by Stetman. The latter carried a hefty briefcase with strange mechanical arms sprouting from one side and neatly folding over to the other.

From the other dropship, out came Raynor in his grey marine armour with the distinctive white skeletal serpent totem painted on it, followed by a young human female dressed in a labcoat, and Kerrigan, dressed in a black form-fitting outfit which Zeratul recognized as the old field uniform for Terran Ghosts.

Immediately, Raynor began directing the three marines to take up sentry positions at the far edge of the clearing. He spotted Zeratul walking towards him and waved.

"This is … breathtaking !" Hanson exclaimed as she set a foot on the ground outside, and took in the view before her, especially the large object at the centre of the clearing.

It was a giant pupa, roughly six metres long and two metres wide, wrapped in what appeared to be a thick layer of alien silk. At the top of the cocoon, said silk had turned from white to iridescent gold, like the carapace of some beetles. At the bottom, where the cocoon touched the ground, the silk had grown and spread over the Earth around it, covering the entire floor of the clearing, some nearby trees, and perhaps extending into the surrounding forest as well. It covered every patch of soil, rocks, and fallen logs like fungal hyphae magnified a million times, with short loose threads waving in the air like thin tentacles. There were even fruiting bodies popping up here and there, their tops coloured the same iridescent gold as the main cocoon.

The substance reminded Hanson of Zerg creep, except that this was a different colour, mostly pale whitish gold and brown on the outer surface, but with hints of purplish red and green showing from underneath. "What do you think ? Mutated Creep ?" She asked Stetman who had been standing beside her and gawking at the surreal scenery as well.

"Did a scan just now. Similar to Creep, but benign, for now. Let's see …" Stetman squatted down, and began collecting some samples with a tweezer and test-tube. "Hey, maybe we can put it together with normal Creep and see what happens." After a while, he noticed the waving threads trying to wrap themselves around his gloved hands, like the thin tentacles of a jellyfish around its potential prey, and he hastily stood up.

"Is that really a Zerg in there ?" Hanson pointed at the giant cocoon.

"Yup, I heard it's a really special one." Stetman answered as he plucked the threads from his gloves and shoved them into another test-tube.

"I can see that ..." the feeling of amazement was still evident in Hanson's voice. And then she pointed forward again. "What's she doing ?"

Now they saw Kerrigan walking towards one end of the giant ovoid pupa. She stood there, near what would to be its head ( or tip of its abdomen, to use the insect analogy ) and placed one hand on the surface of the silk. Where she touched, the silk extended and wrapped itself around her arm.

"Beats me." Stetman shrugged. "Why don't we go find out ?"

They both slowly approached the cocoon.

Close behind them, were Zeratul and Raynor.

"So, how's Lulu doing ?" Raynor gestured towards the cocoon.

Zeratul raised a brow-ridge in amusement at the casualness with which Raynor referred to the cerebrate, as well as the human's inability to pronounce its true name. "It is alive, and asleep. That is all I can say. I am unable to communicate with it. It's essence seems to be reshaping itself. While your marines were unloading the cocoon, I began observed the surrounding area. The animals nearby were reacting to its psionic emanations. The lower creatures were drawn to it, before being consumed by the white tendrils that the Old One was sending out. Creatures which possessed an independent will, were less effected. Either that, or its influence was too subtle for me to notice. It is our sentience, and our vestments, which protect us." Zeratul tapped lightly at Raynor's shoulder pauldrons.

"I see." Raynor nodded, then recalled something. "What about those Infested by the ZH virus ? Are they affected ?"

"Hmm … I have not seen any of them yet." Zeratul paused in thought. "They must be hiding in their burrows to avoid the sunlight. If the Old One's tendrils have reached them, we may have to wait until nightfall to see how they are affected. Perhaps I'll stay here, and watch."

They were now standing next to Kerrigan. Nearby, Stetman was poking the cocoon with one of his instruments, while Hanson was frowning and shaking her head at her fellow scientist's lack of caution.

Just then, the coms in Raynor's helmet came to life, and he heard a familiar voice.

"Commander, are you there ?"

"I hear you, Matt." Raynor replied. "What's up ?"

"Sir, we are detecting multiple groups of Zerg life-signs heading your way."

"Infested Terrans ?"

"Mostly Infested Terrans, but some of their movement patterns indicate real Zerg."

"I see. How's the deployments in the Settlement areas going ?"

"Enough to hold off the Zerg if they decide to turn and attack the Agrians. Sir, you need to pull out of your current location immediately."

"Understood." Raynor pressed a button within his helmet and spoke into the coms again. "Sentries, fall back to the dropships. I repeat, fallback to the dropships."

As the sentry marines acknowledged the order, Raynor turned to the rest of the group. "Alright, we need to leave, now. The Zerg are coming."

"Just a moment …" Stetman entered the last line of data into his PDF and then looked up. "Huh what ? oh, the Zerg are coming ! Let's go !" He hurriedly packed his equipment back inside his briefcase, and and jogged towards the dropships, followed by Hanson. "I knew it, they're immune to sunlight already …"

Kerrigan opened her eyes, and pulled her hand away from the cocoon. "They're coming … for me."

"Sarah ?" Raynor saw Kerrigan standing motionless, and called out urgently. "We gotta go."

Kerrigan looked back at Raynor with a calm but determined expression. "Remember the psi-emitters, Jimmy ?"

Raynor did remember. Years ago, scientists working for the now deposed Confederate government had discovered that the Zerg were attracted to the psionic emanations of a Ghost. They had even developed portable devices called psi-emitters which broadcast the psionic imprint of Ghosts when activated, allowing the Confederates to lure the Zerg to predetermined locations. Ultimately, this technology was used, with horrifying success, against them by the Rebellion.

Compared to ordinary Ghosts, Kerrigan's own psionic potential was off the charts. While she was the Queen of Blades, this ability to call the Zerg to her had been very useful to her, but what about now ?

"We'll take you to a safe place." Raynor extended an armoured hand. "Come on. We'll figure out some other way to get the Zerg."

"And how long will that take ? As long as they have a place to hide, they'll just keep coming." Kerrigan sighed and then put up a smile. "Besides, Dr. Hanson has been looking for a cure to the virus, right ? Now she has one … sort of," She plucked the silk threads still attached to her arm, and raised them in the air before her. "but it's not tested yet."

Raynor remained silent for a while, then, he smiled as well. "Alright, but we'll do it from a safe place."

Zeratul appeared beside them. "I have recalled the Void Seeker to this location. If we take Kerrigan aboard my vessel, and maintain a cloaking field around it, we may lure the Zerg into traps of our making, while greatly reducing the risk to her life. It will also allow us to escape quickly if a threat arises."

"Thanks." Raynor nodded appreciatively. "I'll inform the pilots to return to the settlement without us." He turned and headed towards the dropships.

* * *

_A while later … in the control room aboard the Void Seeker, holding position 5 km above the Cocoon …_

_..._

The cockpit was unusually dark and utilitarian for something of Protoss design. Unlike the Khalai Protoss, the Dark Templar believed firmly in thrift and keeping a low profile, and Zeratul exemplified those principles quite well.

The entire room was shaped roughly like a sphere, six metres wide and tall, with minimal protruding elements, to reduce the risk of injury when travelling in unsteady conditions. The floor, walls, and ceiling were covered in tessellating plates of various shapes, all metallic dark purple in colour, except for the entrances at the sides, and a large oval transparent section which took up nearly a quarter of the sphere, allowing a view of the outside towards the top, front and bottom of the ship.

There were no chairs nor tables. Specially designed niches along the walls and floor, with straps provided, served as seats and beds on occasion, all facing the centre of the room, where a small shallow mound served as the common control panel and workstation. Right on top of this mound, was a small crystal set into the ceiling. Its sky-blue glow provided most of the illumination in the room, in addition to the holographic display screens suspended in the space below it. These had lines connecting them to the top of the mound below, where a map of the surrounding terrain was being displayed.

Zeratul had dispatched Observers over the area covered by the Old One's fungal mat ( for convenience's sake let's call it that ), and then beyond. They hovered at regular distances from each other along the treetops, transmitting vision of the areas under them to the Void Seeker, and could relocate themselves at Zeratul's command.

"Look !" Kerrigan pointed towards one of the screen. It showed a view of one small part of the forest. This was a location of the outer limit of the fungal mat's extent. If one looked closely, one could see that the mat was expanding, slowly.

A creature recognizable as an Infested Terran had lumbered onto the mat, and stumbled, its feet held fast by the thread-like waving tendrils. As it struggled to free itself, stabbing, the ground with its scythe-like claws, the tendrils extended and wrapped more and more thickly around its limbs, then its torso, over its shoulders, until finally the creature was covered entirely in silken hyphae like a cocoon itself. After a while, it stopped moving. Similar events were seen occurring on the other display screens. "It's begun." Zeratul whispered.

And then they saw what appeared to be Zerglings and Roaches running over the fungal mat as well. These proved too fast for the silk tendrils to entrap.

"We need to draw those ones away." Kerrigan pointed at one screen showing the real Zerg creatures advancing over the fungal mat with impunity. "We can't let them reach the Cocoon."

Zeratul nodded. His hand moved over something along his side of the work-station. A faint hum could be heard throughout the ship. The terrain map began shifting sideways slowly, as if moving over an invisible treadmill, while the view outside the giant windscreen began shifting as well, confirming that the Void Seeker was indeed flying to a different location. "The course is set… Can you not take control of them ? Direct them away ?"

Kerrigan closed her eyes in concentration, then slowly shook her head. "I can't, there's … something else out there … prodding them on."

Raynor switched on his coms. "Raven squads 4 through 10, auto-turrets activate. Target all incoming Zerg units except for the Infested Terrans."

"Or-der Ac-know-ledged ..." Came the monotonous reply through the coms. "Com-men-cing …"

In response, Zeratul brought up a few display screens which focused on the positions of said static weapons. The three of them watched as the guns, placed in groups of four at short intervals along the original perimeter of the fungal mat, fired at the incoming Zerg creatures. The latter shuddered and tripped as the rounds tore into their hide, and collapsed onto the fungal mat, where they were eventually engulfed by the silk tendrils. Some of them turned and attacked the turrets, eventually overwhelming the guns and taking the latter apart in a flurry of brutally swiping claws and acid sprays. As they moved on towards their destination, they were shot down by even more turrets along the way, who were in turn overwhelmed by more Zerg.

"Damn, they just keep coming … " Raynor whispered. He turned towards a holographic display screen projected from a device placed in the seat-niche beside his own. "Matt, arm the Hyperion's laser batteries, and target the following coordinates … "

Beside him, Kerrigan, eyes still closed, raised her hands and then brought them down, palms curled and facing downward. Light blue sparks arced between her fingers and the insides of her palms. Her nerve cords began to raise themselves from their drooping positions, until they appeared as segmented spikes pointing behind her and waving about, as if blown by an invisible wind from the front.

Some of the display screens showed a crowd of Zerglings and Roaches stampeding over each other and frequently looking up at the sky. Suddenly, bolts of bluish white lightning leapt into their midst from many directions. Instead of flashing and disappearing quickly, said lightning twisted and crackled their way through the tightly packed Zerg. Every Zergling caught in its way ( which was almost every Zergling shown on screen ) shuddered and writhed in agony as smoke poured out from their orifices, before dropping dead or exploding to pieces. It took two or three waves of lightning to kill the Roaches this way. Those who managed to escape were impaled by thin orange threads of light shooting down from the sky, and collapsed into smouldering heaps. This time, there were no silk tendrils to claim the carcasses yet, as the Void Seeker had moved beyond the range of the Fungal Mat.

Kerrigan maintained the Psionic Storm for a few more seconds, until sparks began flying around her head as well. She abruptly opened her eyes and gasped. The sparks disappeared, and she fell back into her seat-niche, exhausted. "There's still more of them out there ..." she whispered meekly.

"Sir." Matt's face appeared on the portable holographic display screen again. "There are flying units headed your way. Wraith squadrons 5 to 11 are moving to intercept."

"Very good. Keep in touch." Raynor knew this was going to be a long day. He started unpacking his rations, and handed some of them to Kerrigan, who accepted them, and then glanced momentarily ahead at Zeratul.

"It's OK." Raynor whispered. "He doesn't need to eat."

* * *

_Meanwhile, in Dr. Ariel Hanson's lab …_

_..._

"Hey, come see this !" Stetman called out. For a while he heard no response.

"Dr. Hanson ?"

"Yes ?" Hanson walked over to where Stetman was looking through a microscope. When he heard her approaching, Stetman looked up excitedly. "Remember what I said about mixing the samples I collected with normal creep ?"

"Mhmm." Hanson nodded.

"Well, I mixed it with some other stuff as well." Stetman stood up and moved off his seat, then pointed towards the microscope. "Take a look !"

Hanson bent down and looked through the microscope. "It's attacking … what is that ?"

"… a piece of human skin tissue." Stetman answered, grinning as if he had just described the greatest scientific breakthrough of the decade.

"Fascinating …" Hanson looked up. "but I don't see your point."

"Not yet." Stetman removed the current slide from the microscope , and replaced it with another slide. "Now see. This was plucked from the Big Worm, after Kerrigan started … uh … patting it."

Hanson chuckled at Stetman's choice of words, and peered through the lenses again. "OK, it's … not moving. Is it … dead ?"

"Well, all our samples are almost dead, even the normal creep, but they still retain some of their functions." Stetman picked up another slide. "Now here comes the most exciting part." He inserted the slide he was holding into the microscope after removing the previous slide.

Hanson, still looking through the microscope, remained silent for a few seconds. And then she looked up and stared at the cabinet set into the wall in front of her. "I'm seeing things."

"No Ma'am you're not." Now the grin on Stetman's face was wider.

* * *

_Midnight, aboard the Void Seeker … 5 km above the Cocoon, after travelling for the Void knows how much distance and back._

_..._

"Matt, are you detecting anymore Zerg heading our way ?" Raynor asked in a tired voice.

"Negative. They're all gone, as far as our sensors can reach." Matt replied and then smiled. "Sir, we just accomplished in one day, what could have taken weeks. I don't know what to say, except that ... well, I'm glad we kept Kerrigan alive. Without her, this wouldn't have been possible."

"We all did our part. Couldn't have pulled it off without you guys as well ... but I wished you were here to see the Void Seeker in action. It was ... insane. " Raynor paused to yawn. "By the way, did figure out how the infestation spread so fast ?"

"No idea, Sir, but there were real Zerg units, even flyers. I'm guessing this really has nothing to do with the ZH-infected escaping from quarantine." Matt yawned as well. "Sorry."

"Don't worry." Raynor waved, then recalled something. "Oh, speaking of Infested Terrans, that reminds me, we need to get some dropships over to the following coordinates ... to pick up the survivors."

"Survivors, Sir ?"

* * *

A/N:

How many of you actually bothered to count the number of "days" and "hours" which have elapsed since the start of this story ? Sorry, I'll try to put in specific dates and times next time XP

-Star


	7. Relocate

Before I forget, the Starcraft franchise is the property of Blizzard Entertainment.

* * *

**Relocate**

* * *

_Inside a dark cavern, on an unknown planet …_

At first it was just a tug at the edge of its consciousness, then gradually, the Newborn became aware of a curious Presence far out across the Voids. It had felt the desire to seek out this presence. It strained to extend its own psychic presence farther than it had ever done before and direct those underlings dwelling on the same world as the Presence to approach the latter and investigate. And to its surprise as they arrived at their given destination, they were overwhelmed by a strange force and then wiped out of existence. This piqued the Newborn's curiosity even more, and it swept even more of its underlings towards that mysterious location, even ignoring the apparent Terran hive clusters that they passed by. This was as much control as it could maintain over such vast interstellar distances. Eventually, it could not sense anything from that world anymore, and withdrew its psychic presence back to itself.

The Presence was definitely not as strong as the Voice, nor the former Overmind, but still familiar to the Zerg. As the Newborn held and analyzed that psionic impression within its mind, it realized that there may actually have been two entities situated close together on the same world and forming the Presence.

The first entity felt like a raw, primal force contained in a dormant form. There was something about it that affected the Newborn deeply. The latter was reminded of the distant psychic scream that it had felt just a day before, which had affected the underlings as well, making them restless. It was a simple matter to keep them in line, but the incident was quite unsettling. It must be investigated.

Mentally, the Newborn superimposed the psionic imprint of the other entity, which had a more easily discernible structure, with the psychic emanations of beings which it knew about. The resulting revelation caused the Newborn's s body to stiffen momentarily in surprise, and then tremble with deep hatred.

At once, it began mobilizing its main brood.

* * *

_James Raynor's temporary quarters, Agrian settlement cluster, Haven_

_Two standard days after leaving the surface of Char …_

Raynor pulled the window curtains aside. Looking out through the window he could see the other mobile shelters, and even further out he could see the vital facilities and transports appearing as towers, domes, scaffolds and floating silhouettes rising above the common residential area. And finally in the farthest background, covering the entire horizon and barely visible due to their distance and low light, were the forests and mountains.

The pale blue glow of dawn diffused into the room through the space in between the curtains. It lit up the smooth marble floor, a simple bed and the lithe figure sleeping beneath its white sheets, as well as the door situated opposite the window.

Said door now clicked and slid open, and a familiar figure stepped in through the room. "Thought I'd find you here." Hanson walked over to stand beside the bed, while looking at Raynor's back. "Ever since yesterday, I've never seen you away from her."

Raynor turned, shrugged, and walked over to the bed as well. "I'm the only one she has." He gazed down at Kerrigan's peacefully sleeping face, and gently stroked her nerve cords with a few fingers. Then he chuckled, "well, maybe except for Lulu."

"Lulu ?" Even as she kept her voice down to a whisper to avoid waking Kerrigan, she could not stop herself from staring up curiously at Raynor.

"The second present." Raynor explained.

"The … oh, right … I was going to thank you, for bringing it to Haven, and for saving those people." Hanson smiled. "We found the cure, at least for now."

"See ? I told you we'll be fine." Raynor grinned, then looked up at Hanson again. "Are we ?"

"Well, the Fungal Mat isn't exactly harmless." Hanson glanced past Raynor towards the window. "It's been growing into parts of the settlements, and there's been reports of it clogging up the pipes, and eating up the farms. The estate management guys say they can 'handle' this, but I don't think property damage is the most dangerous part."

"Tell me." Raynor pressed the fingers of one hand against his chin, and stared at attention at the Doctor.

"It's the way the cure works. The lab has been examining the super-Mold, that's what Stetman's been calling the samples he collected. It seems to change its behaviour whenever a conscious living thing, like say a human, is nearby. I think it reacts to brainwaves." Hanson tapped the side of her own head.

"That Cocoon, it's making the Mold, but it's not exerting any fine control over the process." She lowered a voice, "It's highly possible that Kerrigan took advantage of that … did something to the Mold, made it attack and absorb any Zerg cells it came into contact with, but leave human tissue alone … mostly. I was going to ask her about this, but … well, let's wait till she's awake." She glanced down at the figure sleeping on the bed. Kerrigan looked much less intimidating now that she was asleep. Hanson felt the urge to touch Kerrigan's nerve cords as well, then decided against it. "Rough night ?"

Raynor nodded and whispered in reply. "She pushed herself over the limit several times last night. It's as if she's trying use her connection with the Zerg to erase _that part_ of her history. That's also why I need to stay close to her. I'm worried she might do something crazy." and then Raynor raised an eyebrow. "Did you say, 'mostly' ?"

"Of the former ZH infected that was brought back into our medical facilities, … _covered in silk_" Hanson emphasized the last word and shook her head slightly, recalling the unbelievable sight that she had witnessed last night after rushing to the nearest hospital in the settlement. "…, almost all of them have suffered some irreversible damage and are now under intensive care. Most of it was likely caused by the ZH infection, but we also observed the Mold becoming very … _attached_ to the patients' bodies. We had to remove it, or else they would never recover."

"We're basically fighting one Zerg bio-weapon with another." Raynor agreed with the hospital staffs' actions. "Did you try waking up the patients?"

"A few of them were already awake. Their conditions are relatively stable. Speaking of which … while we were discussing ways to reproduce the cure in the lab, the issue of the Cocoon came up. We're concerned about what might happen if the …" Hanson waved a hand in the air, trying to come up with a better word for what she was going to mention next, then gave up, " … the Big Worm wakes up."

"You're afraid that it will take control of the super-Mold." Raynor finished for her. He saw her nod, and then continued, "I know what you mean. We'll have to relocate it." And then he rubbed his chin and frowned down at the edge of the bed. "This'll take some planning …"

Suddenly, both Raynor and Hanson heard a sharp intake of air, and they turned to see Kerrigan.

Immediately, Kerrigan now open eyes met Raynor's gaze, and he saw that they were filled with terror.

"Jim, we need to leave this place, now !" Kerrigan pushed hard at the blanket covering her, throwing it over the foot end of her bed and onto the floor, revealing the black pyjamas she had been wearing. She then swung one leg over the right edge of the bed. Reflexively, Raynor stepped back to avoid her foot, while Hanson just stared on in shock at this sudden action. When Raynor steadied himself, Kerrigan had already jumped out of the bed, and dashed past him.

He turned around, and saw Kerrigan peeking out through the window. She kept looking at the sky, and the horizon. Her fingers were gripping the window ledge tightly, and if one looked long enough one could see that she was shaking. "They're coming ! They're still out there, and they'll be here."

"Who's coming ? The Zerg ?" She heard Raynor's voice from right behind her.

"I … I overdid it last night." Kerrigan turned around, but with her face lowered, so that some of her nerve cords covered her eyes from Raynor's view. "I didn't know. I forgot … there's still some of them left."

"Sarah, calm down …" Raynor said gently, placing one hand over each of her shoulders. "Tell me who's they ? We can't help if we don't know what's going on."

Kerrigan mumbled something, then shook her head. "… but it's not possible …"

"Is she referring to the Cocoon ?" Hanson asked tentatively. "Maybe it's already waking up."

With that, Raynor turned towards a simple foldable table placed beside the bed. He pressed a few buttons on a dinner-plate sized device placed on the table, and a few seconds later, this corner of the room was lit up by a holographic display screen suspended above the table.

"Greetings." The face and shoulders of Zeratul appeared in the screen. Some branches and leaves could be seen in the otherwise dark background. He was apparently sitting inside the upper canopy of a tree, or a bush.

"Zeratul, are we still monitoring Lulu ?" Raynor asked.

"That we are …" Zeratul leaned away from the screen for a while, and then sat back up. He was now looking at somewhere just outside the screen, from where a faint blue glow shone onto his face and uniform. "I have one of my observers watching the Old One from the treetops." Zeratul moved a hand over an unseen beneath the bottom of the screen. The glow on his face now flickered and changed colour a few times. "Hmm, interesting … its internal structure has changed, and … it seems to be moving within its Cocoon. For now, it appears harmless, but we must prepare for unforeseen changes. I propose that we take the Old One to a remote location, where, should it awaken, it will not endanger the lives of the Terrans living on this world."

"Dr. Hanson and I were talking about that just a moment ago. It may already be waking up, and it just gave Sarah a nightmare." Raynor motioned towards the window behind him.

He heard Kerrigan's voice from right beside him. "No, it's not that. Something's coming. We need to leave Haven, now."

Zeratul looked up at the source of that voice. He stroked the tip of his face-scarf, and narrowed his eyes for a while. "Perhaps Kerrigan is right. I too have had nightmares of my own. Verily, we have not seen the last of the Swarm. As long as either Kerrigan or the Old One remains here, even more Zerg will be drawn to this planet, in greater numbers than we can handle." Zeratul closed his eyes and pressed his hand onto yet another unseen device near the bottom of the screen. A while later, they heard a low smooth humming noise, which Raynor recognized as the sound made by the Void Seeker in flight, but this time it was much more distant and thus much fainter, and blurred by wind and the rustle of vegetation.

Now Zeratul opened his eyes, and looked towards Raynor's right side. "Greetings."

"Hi … uh, how do you do ?" Hanson forced a smile. This was the second time that she was exchanging words with a real-life Protoss, and she still found the experience slightly unnerving. She quickly looked away from Zeratul's strange glowing eyes, and turned to face Raynor instead. "Sorry for butting in, but … what's going on ?"

"Just a moment." Raynor raised one hand in a 'hold on' gesture. "Even if we do get Sarah and Lulu off this planet. Where can we take them ?"

"Well asked, my friend." Zeratul nodded slowly. "I have a few destinations in mind, but we must hurry, before the ripples in the Void gather into an unstoppable tide, and consume us all."

* * *

A\N:

I've got a few 'destinations' in mind, but I'm not sure how to get there. That's why this chapter is so short. Sorry XP

I think I need to go read the Starcraft comics, novels etc before I carry on ( if I do carry on at all ).

If you want to use my ideas in your own fic, go ahead :)

-Star


End file.
